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THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

Ex  Libris 

Katharine  F,  Richmond 

and 

Henry  C.  Fall 


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LIBRARY    OF 

HENRY  C.  FALL- 

AND  KATHARINE   A.  FALL 

Date  of  PurcJiase_ 

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SKETCHES 


SUCCESSFUL 


New  Hampshire  Men 


Illustrated  with  Steel  Portraits. 


MANCHESTER : 

JOHN    B  .    C  L  A  li  K  E 

1882. 


Entered  uccording  to  act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1882,  by 

JOHN  B.  CLARKE, 

in  tlie  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


F 
33 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE. 


This  volume  contaius  portraits  and  bioaraphical  sketches  of  eighty-eight 
New  Hampshire  men  whose  deserved  success  in  their  several  callings  has  made 
them  conspicuous  in  the  professional,  business,  and  political  world.  It  should 
be  the  first  of  a  series. — the  beginning  of  a  work  so  extensive  as  to  include 
similar  presentations  in  regard  to  all  the  prominent  men  of  our  state,  when  it 
would  exceed  in  value  and  interest  to  New  Hampshire  people  all  other  publi- 
cations of  a  biographical  nature.  The  glory  of  our  state  centers  in  and  is 
reflected  from  her  great  men  and  noble  women,  whose  history  should  be  familiar 
to  all  who  by  birth  or  association  are  interested  in  her  fame  and  welfare,  and 
especially  to  those  in  whose  hands  rests  her  future,  and  who  may  need  the 
strengthening  influence  of  their  example.  To  this  end  this  volume  will  con- 
tribute. Its  preparation  has  occupied  a  long  time,  and  involved  much  labor  and 
expense.  My  connection  with  it  has  been  that  of  a  publisher,  whose  duties 
I  have  endeavored  to  discharge  faithfully  and  acceptably.  All  else  is  to  be 
credited  to  others.  The  sketches  are  printed  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
furnished. 

JOHN    B.   CLARKE. 

Manche.ster.  N.  H..  July.  1882. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Adams,  Charles,  Jr.          .         .         .         .      ■  .         .         .         .         .  278 

Adams,  Phinehas  ..........  166 

Amury,  William 151 

Balch,  Charles  E 113 

Barnard,  Daniel      ..........  304 

Bartlett,  Charles  H.  ........         .  33 

Barton,  Levi  Winter      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .50 

Blair,  Henry  William 285 

Bracewell,  John 199 

Briggs,  James  F 29-1 

Bryant,  Napoleon  B.        ........         .  187 

BuFFi'M,  David  Hanson 276 

Carpenter,  Josiah 43 

Chandler,  George  Byron 185 

Chandler,  William  E 255 

Cheney,  Gilman 215 

Cheney,  Person  C 162 

Clark,  Joseph  Bond 179 

Clarke,  John  B 311 

Clarke,  William  C 261 

Cogswell,  Francis    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .177 

Cogswell,  George 204 

Cogswell,  Thomas 160 

Cogswell,  William       .........  137 

Colby,  Anthony        ..........  251 

Crosby,  Asa  and  Sons 243 

Cumner,  Nathaniel  Wentworth 297 

Currier,  Moody 35 

Daniell,  Warren  F.         ........         .  237 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Dearborn,  Cornelius  Van  Ness 195 

DuNLAP,  Archibald  Harris     ........  264 

Edoerly,  Martin  V.  B 130 

French,  John  C 157 

George,  John  Hatoh 98 

Oilman,  Virgil  C 148 

GooDELL,  David  H 233 

Goodwin,  Ichabod 133 

Graves,  Josiah  G 235 

Griffin,  Simon  G 58 

Hall,  Daniel 229 

Harriman,  Walter 74 

Hayes,  Albert  H. 202 

Head,  Natt 223 

Jewell,  David  Lyman 63 

Kent,  Henry  0 21 

Kimball,  John 89 

Marsh,  Charles 184 

Martin,  BenjAxMin  Franklin 269 

Maxfield,  Rufus  a 289 

McDuFPEE,  John .         .         .  153 

Means,  William  Gordon 103 

Miner,  Alonzo  A. 16 

Moulton,  John  Carroll 114 

Murphy,  Charles  M 67 

Nesmith,  George  W. 180 

Noroross,  Amasa 37 

Parker,  John  M 31 

Peabody,  Charles  A 209 

PiLLSBURY,  George  Alfred 39 

Pillsbury,  Oliver 191 

Pierce,  Thomas  P 127 

Pike,  Chester 123 

P(»tter,  Chandler  E 302 

Prescott,  Benjamin  F.          ........  281 

Richards,  Dexter 271 

Riddle,  William  P 307 


CONTENT8.  Vll 

Rollins,  Edward  Ashton         ........  148 

Rollins,  Edward  H 217 

Sargent,  Jonathan  Everett  ........  93 

Saavyer,  Charles  H.     ........         .  249 

Sawyer,  Jonathan 240 

Shaw,  Albert  M 267 

Sherburne,  Henry  C.       .........  69 

Smyth,  Frederick 1(16 

Spalding,  Edavard 81 

Spalding,  (tEorge  Bitrley 291 

Stark,  George  ...........  9 

Sulloway,  Alvah  W.           119 

TiLTON,  Charles  Elliott 110 

TiiTTLE,  Hiram  A. 14 

Wallace,  Rodney 56 

Wallingford,  Zimri  S. 70 

Weston,  James  A.     ..........  85 

■Wheeler,  Samuel  Metcalf 79 

White,  Jeremiah  W.        ........         .  140 

White,  Nathaniel         .........  172 

Wilder,  Marshall  P 25 

Williams,  Charles        .........  47 


%f^ 


.^^ 


GEN.  GEORGE  STARK. 


BY    H.    W.    HERRICK. 


In  the  remarkable  development  of  railroad  traffic  in  this  country  within  the 
last  fifty  years,  many  prominent  men  of  our  state  identified  with  this  interest 
have  achieved  an  enviable  success.  A  leading  position  among  these  representative 
men  will  be  accorded  to  General  George  Stark,  who,  within  the  last  forty 
years,  has  been  associated  with  the  successful  organization  and  management  of 
several  of  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  of  these  corporations.  Beginning  at 
an  early  age  with  some  of  the  first  of  these  enterprises  in  New  England,  he  has 
been  identified  with  their  history ;  and  he  has  also  had,  within  the  last  five  years, 
a  controlling  hand  in  the  resuscitation  and  extension  of  the  great  Northern  Pacific 
line,  that  will  soon  span  the  continent  from  the  great  lakes  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 
This  successful  business  career  has  been  honorably  distinguished,  inasmuch  as  it 
has,  in  all  its  phases,  recognized  the  sound  business  principles  that  govern  supply 
and  demand  in  the  legitimate  carrying-trade.  As  the  leading  medium  between 
the  producer  and  consumer,  the  railroad  interest  thrives  only  with  the  prosperity 
and  good  will  of  both  ;  and  in  this,  its  legitimate  sphere,  seeks  neither  to  control 
production  or  traffic,  except  in  those  reciprocal  relations  which  contribute  to 
the  public  good. 

The  influences  attending  the  early  life  of  Gen.  Stark  favored  the  develop- 
ment of  the  qualities  of  character  that  have  made  his  business  career  marked  and 
successful.  His  father,  Frederick  G.  Stark,  was  the  son  of  John,  the  third  of  the 
children  of  Major-General  John  Stark,  the  hero  of  Bennington,  the  latter  being, 
therefore,  the  third  in  ancestral  order  removed  from  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
George  Stark  was  born  at  Manchester,  N.  H.,  April  9,  1823,  a  few  months 
after  the  death  of  his  illustrious  military  ancestor.  His  father  at  this  time  occu- 
pied the  old  manor-house  formerly  owned  by  Judge  Blodget,  originator  of  the 
famous  Blodget  canal.  This  time-honored  structure  has  been  destroyed  by  the 
demand  of  modern  improvements,  and  its  site,  at  the  entrance  of  the  canal  around 
Amoskeag  Falls,  is  now  only  marked  by  the  ruins  (jf  the  sheds  connected  with  it. 
The  locks  and  canals,  in  connection  with  like  works  on  the  Merrimack  river, 
were  owned  by  the  Union  Locks  and  Canal  Company,  and  Frederick  G.  Stark 
occupied  the  position  of  general  superintendent  and  manager.  He  was  also 
proprietor  of  a  general-supply  store  for  river-men  and  the  population  adjacent, 
and  was,  moreover,  land  surveyor  for  the  neighboring  country.  He  also  held 
the  position  of  general  magistrate,  and  was,  withal,  the  most  influential  man  of 
the  vicinity,  leading  in  all  commercial  enterprise  and  traffic.     He  died  in  1861. 

The  early  days  of  young  Stark  were  favored  with  the  oversight  and  direct- 
ing influence  of  an  excellent  mother, —  a  lady  of  genial,  kindly  character,  rare 
mental  qualities,  and  showing  a  benevolent  and  christian  solicitude  both  for  her 
own  family  and  general  society  in  the  neighborhood.  She  died  in  185G.  Of  the 
four  children,  Juliet  (Mrs.  Henry  C.  Gillis)  died  in  1840  ;  Emma  (Mrs.  J.  G.  Cilley) 
2 


10  GE]S^.    GEORGE    STARK. 

died  in  1859  ;  William,  tlie  youngest,  well  remembered  as  possessing  rare  liter- 
ary abilities,  and  known  as  author  and  poet,  died  in  1873. 

At  the  age  of  nine  years  Greorge  was  taken  from  the  schools  of  the  Amos- 
keag  district,  and  for  the  succeeding  four  years  studied  in  the  academies  of 
Pembroke  and  Milford.  His  mental  culture  in  these  advanced  schools  was  chiefly 
in  the  line  of  mathematics,  yet  natural  aptitude  and  diligence  supplied  in  after 
life  many  deficiencies  in  education.  At  the  close  of  his  school-days  in  Pem- 
broke and  Milford  George  returned  to  Manchester,  in  1836,  finding  the  scenes 
of  his  childhood  transformed  from  their  previous  quiet  to  a  busy  preparation,  by 
engineers  and  laborers,  for  the  new  city  of  Manchester.  The  young  school-boy 
was  placed  as  assistant  with  the  chief  engineer  and  surveyor,  Uriah  A.  Boy  den, 
and  worked  one  season  on  the  preliminary  surveys  for  the  canal,  factories,  and 
streets  of  the  embryo  city.  During  this  season,  and  a  few  years  succeeding, 
when  not  employed  on  surveys,  he  attended  the  academies  of  Bedford,  Sanborn- 
ton,  and  the  high  school  at  Lowell,  Mass., —  the  last  being  then  under  the  charge 
of  Moody  Currier,  Esq.  In  the  autumn  of  1836,  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen, 
he  was  employed  with  the  staff"  of  engineers  engaged  in  the  locating  surveys  of 
the  Nashua  &  Lowell  Railroad.  This  line,  only  fifteen  miles  in  length,  was 
two  years  in  process  of  building,  giving  an  amusing  contrast  to  the  long  routes 
now  located  and  built  in  one  season.  The  years  1839  and  1840  were  spent  in 
alternate  seasons  of  field  work  with  the  engineers  and  study  at  the  academies. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  Nashua  &  Lowell  road,  the  enterprising  business 
men  of  Concord  had  ready  for  the  engineers  the  work  of  further  locating  the 
line  from  Nashua  to  Concord.  This  extension  of  thirty-six  miles  was  com- 
menced in  1841,  and  our  young  surveyor,  then  only  seventeen  years  old,  was 
complimented  with  the  post  of  assistant  engineer,  and  given  the  charge  of  por- 
tions of  the  line,  both  in  the  surveys  and  laying  the  track.  At  the  close  of 
this  service  he  was  employed  for  a  time  on  the  preliminary  surveys  of  the 
Northern  Railroad. 

In  1843,  Stark  was  invited  by  the  Land  and  Water  Power  Company  of 
Manchester  to  enter  its  service,  make  surveys,  and  superintend  the  building  of 
the  lower  canal.  This  work  was  finished  in  the  same  year  in  which  it  was 
begun.  The  following  season  we  find  him  engaged  on  surveys  for  the  Vermont 
Central,  and  subsequently  on  the  Old  Colony  Railroad,  where  he  first  served 
as  assistant,  and  afterwards  as  resident  engineer,  in  which  position  he  remained 
until  the  completion  of  the  work  in  1845.  From  this  period  to  the  year  1847 
he  was  in  the  service  of  his  old  friend  and  employer,  Mr.  Boyden,  engaged 
on  surveys  and  drawings  for  mill-work.  At  the  close  of  his  engagement  with 
Mr.  Boyden,  Stark  returned  to  Manchester  and  spent  a  good  part  of  the 
.  season  in  making  surveys  and  drawing  a  map  of  the  compact  part  of  the  city, 
with  reference  to  drainage.  He  also  made  a  survey,  accompanied  with  a  report, 
upon  the  feasibility  of  supplying  the  city  with  water  from  Massabesie  lake. 

The  success  of  the  new  lines  of  railroad  in  New  Hampshire  stimulated  interest 
in  this  form  of  investment,  and  several  new  roads  and  extensions  were  projected. 
The  Nashua  &  Wilton  and  Stony  Brook  lines  were  the  first  lateral  roads  built, 
as  feeders  to  the  trunk  roads  of  the  Merrimack  valley,  and  Stai'k  was  appointed 
chief  engineer  of  both.  On  the  completion  of  these  lines,  the  Boston,  Concord, 
&  Montreal  road,  which  had  been  built  from  Concord  to  Sanbornton,  was 
extended  northward,  and  the  post  of  chief  engineer  was  off'ered  to  Stark.  His 
health  failing  in  the  summer  of  1849,  while  engaged  in  this  work,  he  left 
business  cares  and  spent  several  months  in  recuperation,  accepting,  in  the 
autumn  of  the  same  year,  the  situation  of  treasurer  and  assistant  superintendent 
of   the    Nashua    &    Lowell    Railroad,    then    under    the   management  of   Judge 


GEIsT.    GEORGE    STARK.  11 

Charles  F.  Gove.  This  position  was  held  until  the  early  part  of  1852,  when 
he  received  the  high  compliment  of  an  appointment  as  superintendent  of  the 
Hudson  River  Railroad.  He  had  been  in  this  position  but  little  more  than  a 
year  when  an  urgent  offer  was  made  to  him  to  take  the  office  vacated  by  the 
resignation  of  Judge  (fove,  the  superintendent  of  the  Nashua  &  Lowell 
Railroad  and  its  branches.  This  position,  being  more  congenial  than  that  of 
the  New  York  road,  was  accepted,  and  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  new 
situation  at  once. 

In  1857,  four  years  after  his  appointment  to  the  last  mentioned  office,  he 
was  offered  the  post  of  managing  agent  of  the  Boston  &  Lowell  road  and  its 
branches,  in  connection  with  the  Nashua  &  Lowell  line.  The  magnitude  of 
the  operations  of  these  two  roads,  with  their  auxiliary  lines,  was  very  great,  and 
in  their  management  required  executive  ability  of  the  first  order.  The  responsi- 
bilities of  the  position  were  onerous,  and  involved  the  appointment  of  superin- 
tendents, subordinate  officers,  and  foremen,  determining  a  code  of  regulations 
for  their  guidance,  the  adjustment  of  time-tables,  tariff-rates,  and  fares,  the  pur- 
chase of  supplies,  and  many  other  cares  incident  to  the  working  of  a  complex  and 
extended  carrying-trade.  The  manner  in  which  these  duties  were  discharged  was 
attested  by  the  smooth  working  of  the  organization  in  its  details,  and  the  satis- 
factory results  to  the  stockholders.  In  this  period  of  service,  which  included 
about  eighteen  years,  the  great  depot  on  Causeway  street,  Boston,  was  erected 
imder  the  general  management  and  supervision  of  Gen.  Stark.  In  its  first 
inception,  this  magnificent  bviilding,  with  its  approaches,  was  intended  to  furnish 
terminal  facilities  for  two  or  more  roads.  A  contract  to  that  effect  was  completed 
with  the  Massachusetts  Central  road.  Negotiations  were  also  entered  into  with 
the  Eastern  Railroad  Company  for  a  joint  occupancy  of  the  building,  and  a  pro- 
posal was  obtained  from  that  company  to  pay  fifty  thousand  dollars  annual  rental, 
besides  bearing  a  proportionate  share  of  the  running  expenses.  Stark  submitted 
this  proposal  to  his  associates,  recommending  its  acceptance ;  but  it  was  declined, 
on  the  ground  of  inadequate  compensation,  the  president  of  the  Boston  &  Lowell 
and  Nashua  &  Lowell  roads  saying,  in  his  written  reply  to  Stark:  — 

"  While  the  income  is  certainly  important  to  us,  we  have  built  the  station  for 
our  own  accommodation,  with  our  eyes  open,  and  I  think  our  directors  won't 
flinch  from  our  position  and  divide  with  them,  unless  they  pay  well  for  it." 

The  unsuccessful  termination  of  this  negotiation,  and  the  want  of  accord  in 
other  matters  of  general  policy  between  Stark  and  some  of  the  then  prominent 
directors  of  his  roads,  embarrassed  him  in  his  duties,  and  he  resigned  the  position 
of  general  manager  in  March,  1875,  but  retained  his  seat  in  the  board  of  direct- 
ors until  the  following  year.  During  his  business  connection  with  the  combined 
roads  of  the  ^Merrimack  lower  valley,  the  influence  of  Gen.  Stark  in  developing 
great  public  business  interests  is  recognized  by  all  familiar  with  the  subject. 
The  far-reaching  and  com])reliensive  plans  for  a  direct  through  line  connecting 
Boston  with  the  West,  realized  in  1863  by  connection  of  the  lines  of  the  Mer- 
rimack valley,  Vermont  Central,  Ogdensburg,  and  other  roads,  were  the  direct 
result  of  Stark's  labors  and  influence ;  and  he  was  manager,  for  several  years,  of 
the  line  from  Boston  to  Ogdensburg. 

Upon  leaving  his  position  as  general  manager  of  the  Boston  &  Lowell 
and  connecting  lines,  Stark  was  chosen,  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year  (1875), 
by  the  bondholders  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  as  one  of  a  committee 
of  six  to  re-organize  and  resuscitate  that  enterprise,  left  in  its  well  remem- 
bered dilapidated  condition  by  the  financial  panic  of  1873.     After  carefully  inves- 


12  GEN.    GEORGE    STARK. 

tigating  the  condition  of  affairs  and  the  actual  and  prospective  resources  of  the 
road,  a  plan  of  re-organization  was  submitted  by  the  committee,  accepted  by 
the  bondholders,  and  the  road  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  receiver.  In 
September  following,  a  board  of  new  officers  was  chosen,  in  which  we  find  the 
name  of  Gen.  Stark  as  vice-president  and  director.  To  these  positions  he  had 
an  annual  re-election  until  by  resignation  he  severed  his  connection  with  the 
corporation  in  1879.  The  magnitude  of  the  Northern  Pacific  road  and  its 
branches  is  well  known  to  the  public ;  to  detail  its  operations  and  resources 
would  require  too  much  space  here,  even  if  presented  in  the  most  condensed 
form.  Intended  ultimately  to  connect  the  great  northern  lakes  with  the  Pacific 
coast,  its  entire  length,  when  completed,  will  exceed  two  thousand  miles, —  as  long 
as  the  combined  length  of  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  roads.  At 
the  time  of  the  election  of  Glen.  Stark  to  its  management  about  five  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  the  track  were  operated ;  at  the  present  time  nearly  a  thous- 
and miles  of  track  are  laid,  including  over  a  hundred  miles  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  After  retiring  from  active  service  in  the  Northern  Pacific  road.  Gen. 
Stark  established,  in  connection  with  his  son,  J.  F.  Stark,  a  banking-house  in 
New  York  city. 

Though  most  of  his  business  connections  have  been  in  the  railroad  interest, 
Gen.  Stark  has  found  time  for  attention  to  duties  in  other  directions.  In  1857 
he  was  commissioned,  by  Gov.  Haile  of  New  Hampshire,  as  brigadier-general  of 
the  third  brigade  of  New  Hampshire  militia.  In  1860  he  accepted  the  post 
of  colonel  commanding  of  the  Governor's  Horse-Guards,  an  organization  com- 
prising the  elite  of  the  military  men  of  the  State.  In  1861,  in  the  capacity  of 
brigadier-general,  he  received  orders  from  Governor  Goodwin  to  proceed  to  Ports- 
mouth and  take  charge  of  the  organization  of  troops,  at  the  opening  of  the 
rebellion.  The  promptness  and  efficiency  with  which  this  service  was  performed 
is  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  public,  and  the  state  owes  the  management 
of  this  recruiting  station  much  of  the  credit  attached  to  New  Hampshire  for 
promptly  responding  to  the  call  of  the  general  government.  At  one  time  fifteen 
hundred  troops  were  at  this  station,  waiting  orders  from  the  war  department. 

Gen.  Stark  has  not  been  prominent  in  political  life,  or  identified  with 
the  intrigues  and  contests  of  political  partisanship.  The  political  affinities  of  his 
ancestors  were  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  has  been  identified  with  it,  yet 
promptly  breaking  the  restraints  of  strictly  party  lines  at  the  call  of  patriotism, 
as  at  the  opening  of  the  late  civil  war.  In  the  four  years  succeeding  1856  he 
represented  the  first  ward  of  Nashua  in  the  state  legislature,  and  in  1860  and 
1861  was  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  governor.  While  at  this 
])(!riod  party  spirit  was  embittered  and  active,  and  the  Republicans  largely  in  the 
ascendant,  the  conservative  and  popular  character  of  their  leader  gave  the  Demo- 
crats a  handsctme  gain  in  the  ])opular  vote. 

The  qualities  of  character  that  contribute  to  success  in  large  fields  of  com- 
mercial enterprise  are  sometimes  difficult  to  define,  while  their  influence  is  appar- 
ent and  is  seen  and  felt  by  all.  A  prominent  trait  is  great  deliberation  in 
reaching  decisions,  yet  firmness  in  maintaining  them.  Sagacious  insight  of  char- 
acter in  choosing  agents  and  subordinates,  while  holding  them  to  a  strict  account- 
ability, is  also  a  quality  of  executive  merit.  We  see  this  last  trait  in  a  marked 
degree  in  the  small  sums  represented  in  the  items,  "damages"  and  "gratuities," 
in  all  reports  of  the  railroad  management  of  Gen.  Stark.  Every  employe,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  position,  on  roads  under  his  superintendence,  had 
printed  instructions  of  duties,  to  which  he  was  required  to  assent.  Under  no 
circumstances  were  men  retained  in  important  posts  who  used  intoxicating  liquors, 
and  no  crife  or  restaurant  connected  with  the  stations  was  allowed  to  keep  alco- 
holic drinks  for  sale. 


GEN.    GEOKGE    STARK.  13 

In  personnel  Gen.  Stark  is  characterized  by  a  quiet,  deliberate,  yet  courteous 
manner  that  is  not  disturbed  by  the  varied  conditions  and  incidents  of  business 
life.  This  trait  of  an  habitual  mental  equipoise  is  a  peculiarity  that  impresses 
itself  prominently  on  an  observer.  He  has  a  natural,  unrestrained  manner  in 
conversation,  and  social  qualities  that  are  freely  manifested  in  company  with 
tested  and  worthy  friends.  As  a  writer  of  business  documents  and  reports  he 
manifests  power,  method,  and  perspicuity,  and  his  manuscript  shows  a  careful 
arrangement,  neatness  and  precision  of  chirography  quite  remarkable  in  one  of  his 
extensive  business  experience.  At  the  age  of  fifty-eight  he  is  yet  in  the  full 
tide  and  vigor  of  business  life.  His  family  residence  at  Nashua,  though  showing 
no  taste  for  ostentation  or  display,  is  an  elegant  structure  in  the  villa  style, 
furnished  with  every  comfort  and  convenience,  and  adorned  with  works  of  art. 

Gren.  Stark  was  married,  in  1845,  to  Elizabeth  A.  Parker,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Parker,  of  Bedford,  N.  H.  She  died  in  1846.  In  1848  he  was  united  by 
marriage  to  Mary  Gr.  Bowers,  daughter  of  Col.  Joseph  Bowers,  of  Chelmsford, 
Mass.     His  two  children  are  John  F.  and  Emma  Gr.  Stark. 


HON.  HIRAM  A.  TUTTLE. 


BY    JOHN    WHEELER,    M.  D. 


Hon.  Hiram  A.  Tuttle  was  born  in  Barnstead,  October  16,  1837,  being 
the  elder  of  a  family  of  two  sons.  His  father,  Greorge  Tuttle,  and  his  grand- 
father, Col.  John  Tuttle,  were  also  natives  of  the  same  town.  His  great-grand- 
father, John  Tuttle,  settled  in  Barnstead  in  1776,  coming  there  from  that  locality 
in  Dover  known  as  ''  Back  River, "  where  a  part  of  the  Tuttle  family  had  resided 
since  the  settlement  there  of  their  emigrant  ancestor,  John  Tuttle,  who  came 
from  England  before  1641. 

His  mother,  Judith  Mason  Davis,  is  a  descendant  from  Samuel  Davis,  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  one  of  the  primeval  settlers  of  Barnstead.  Brave 
soldiers  of  the  Davis  family  from  four  generations  have  represented  that  town  in 
the  four  great  wars  in  which  the  coiintry  has  been  engaged. 

When  Mr.  Tuttle  was  nine  years  of  age  he  moved,  with  his  father's  family, 
to  the  adjoining  town  of  Pittsfield,  where  he  attended  the  pul>lic  schools  and 
Pittsfield  Academy,  while  the  latter  was  under  the  charge,  successively,  of  I.  F. 
Folsom,  Lewis  W.  Clark,  and  Prof.  Dyer  H.  Sanborn. 

After  haviuir  been  eno-aged  in  several  vocations,  in  all  of  which  he  showed 
industry  and  faithfulness,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  became  connected  with 
the  clothing  establishment  of  Lincoln  &  Shaw,  of  Concord,  where  he  remained 
several  years.  The  ability  and  zeal  which  he  exhibited  while  there  won  for  him 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  employers,  who  established  him  in  the  man- 
agement of  a  branch  i^tore  in  Pittsfield,  of  which  he  soon  became  the  proprietor. 
His  business  increased  gradually  at  first,  and  then  rapidly  till  his  establishment 
had  gained  an  extensive  patronage,  and  ranked  among  the  largest  clothing-houses 
in  the  State.  It  is  so  favorably  remembered  by  former  residents  and  patrons  that 
orders  are  received  for  goods  from  distant  states  and  territories.  IMr.  Tuttle 
has  also  been  interested  in  real  estate.  He  has  built  many  dwelling-houses, 
including  a  fine  residence  for  himself,  and  the  best  business  bviildings  in  the  vil- 
lage. In  many  ways  he  has  promoted  the  growth,  social  and  business  interests, 
and  general  prosperity  of  his  adopted  town.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  savings  bank, 
a  director  of  the  national  bank,  and  a  trustee  of  the  academy  in  Pittsfield. 

When  he  had  attained  his  majority,  in  1859,  he  expressed  his  intention 
of  casting  his  first  vote  with  the  Republicans,  although  all  his  relatives  belonged 
to  the  Democratic  party.  The  Democrats  of  Pittsfield  had  been  victorious. and 
powerful  since  the  days  of  Jackson,  under  such  distinguished  leaders  as  Moses 
Norris,  Jr.,  Charles  H.  Butters,  and  Lewis  W.  Clark,  all  being  able  lawyers, 
impressive  public  speakers,  and  having  popular  manners.  Mr.  Norris,  a  native 
of  the  town,  represented  it  repeatedly  in  the  legislature,  was  speaker  of  the 
house  twice,  a  councilor,  representative  in  congress  four  years,  and  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  senate  for  six  years  while  residing  here.  The  ability  and 
courteous  manners  of  Mr.  Clark  (now  Judge  Lewis  W.  Clark)  made  him  no  less 


% 


»^l 


/^^a;^? 


HON.    HIKAM    A.  TUTTLE.  15 

popular  than  Mr.  Norris,  with  all  classes,  during  the  shorter  time  he  was  in 
business  life  in  town.  Seeing  in  young  Tuttle  qualities  that  might  make  him 
troublesome  if  opposed  to  them,  but  useful  if  in  accord  with  their  party,  the 
Democrats  used  their  most  eminent  persuasive  powers  to  induce  him  to  cleave 
to  the  party  of  all  his  kindred  and  vote  with  the  hitherto  victorious ;  but  he 
obeyed  his  convictions  and  remained  true  to  the  Republican  party.  In  18G0 
the  Republicans,  though  so  long  hopelessly  beaten,  made  a  sharp  contest.  When 
the  day  of  election  came,  Mr.  Clark  was  elected  moderator,  having  been  a  most 
acceptable  presiding  officer  for  several  years.  The  election  of  town  clerk  was 
made  the  test  of  the  strength  of  the  two  parties.  After  a  very  exciting  ballot, 
Mr.  Tuttle  was  elected  town  clerk  and  the  Democrats  were  beaten  for  the  first 
time  in  thirty-three  years.  Although  Pittsfield  has  a  Democratic  majority  under 
normal  circumstances,  Mr.  Tuttle  has  received  the  support  of  a  large  majority 
of  its  votes  at  times  when  his  name  has  been  presented  for  position.  In  1873 
and  1874  he  was  representative  to  the  legislature.  In  1876  he  received  an 
appointment,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Cheney,  and 
with  the  governor  and  staff  Adsited  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadelphia, 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  executive  council  from  the  second  district 
in  1878,  and  was  re-elected  in  1879,  under  the  new  constitution,  for  the  term 
of  two  years. 

Mr.  Tuttle  has  been  very  successful  in  all  that  he  has  undertaken ;  but  his 
thrift  has  never  made  him  arrogant  or  indifferent.  He  has  cheerfully  shared 
with  others  the  results  of  the  good  fortune  that  Providence  has  granted  him. 
He  is  an  agreeable  and  companionable  gentleman  in  all  the  honorable  relations  of 
life.  As  a  citizen,  neighbor,  and  friend,  he  is  held  in  the  highest  estimation. 
He  has  furnished  employment  for  many,  and  has  been  kind  to  the  poor,  very 
respectful  to  the  aged,  charitable  to  the  erring,  and  a  sympathizing  helper  of  the 
embarrassed  and  unfortunate.  Few  men  have  more  or  firmer  personal  friends 
whose  friendship  is  founded  on  kindness  and  substantial  favors  received.  He 
gives  with  remarkable  generosity  to  all  charitable  objects  presented  to  him,  and 
is  very  hospitable  in  his  pleasant  home.  Mr.  Tuttle  accepts  the  Christian  religion, 
and  worships  with  the  Congregational  church.  While  he  contributes  very  liber- 
ally for  the  support  of  the  denomination  of  his  choice,  he  does  not  withhold  a 
helping  hand  from  the  other  religious  sects  in  his  town.  In  his  domestic  relations 
he  has  been  very  fortunate.  He  married,  in  1859,  Miss  Mary  C.  French, 
the  only  child  of  John  L.  French,  Esq.,  formerly  cashier  of  the  Pittsfield 
bank.  Their  only  child, —  Hattie  French  Tuttle, —  born  January  17,  1861,  is 
a  member  of  the  junior  class  in  Wellesley  College. 


REV.  ALONZO  A.  MINER.  D.  D. 


BY    REV.    GEORGE    H.    EMERSON,    D.  D. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  owes  his  name  to  the  grace  of  one  of  England's 
greatest  kings.  In  the  wars  between  England  and  France,  to  which  belongs  the 
renown  of  Cressy  and  Poictiers,  the  English  sovereigns  accepted  such  assistance 
in  munitions  and  men  as  their  subjects  could  proffer.  Henry  Bullman  of  Men- 
dippe  Hills,  Somersetshire,  was  a  miner.  He  fitted  out  a  company  of  one  hun- 
dred, armed  with  battle-axes,  many  of  them  laborers  in  his  mines,  and  presented 
the  same  to  Edward  III.  for  his  use  in  Continental  conquest.  In  his  gratitude 
Edward  conferred  upon  him  a  coat  of  arms  and  gave  him  the  name  of  "  Miner." 
This  honored  subject,  and  the  first  of  the  name  of  Miner,  died  in  1359.  From 
him  descended  Thomas  Miner,  who  came  to  Boston  with  the  elder  Winthrop 
in  1630.  Charles  Miner,  of  the  fifth  generation  from  Thomas,  was  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  removed  from  Connecticut 
to  New  Hampshire. 

A  descendant  of  King  Edward's  friend,  seventh  in  descent  from  Thomas,  the 
grandson  of  Charles,  Alonzo  Ames  Miner  was  the  son  of  Benajah  Ames  and 
Amanda  (Cary)  Miner,  —  an  only  son  and  the  second  of  five  children.  He  was 
born  at  Lempster,  Sullivan  county,  N.  H.,  Aug.  17,  1814. 

Grace  Miner,  granddaughter  of  Thomas,  above  named,  married  Samuel  Grant, 
Jr.,  of  Windsor,  Conn.,  April  11,  1688.  From  that  union  descended  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  ex-President  of  the  United  States. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  inherited  neither  fortune  nor  even  health.  Mental 
powers,  a  constitutional  integrity,  and  a  lack  of  the  lower  ambitions  came  as 
his  only  birthright.  All  else  is  his  by  conquest.  Till  the  years  of  late 
boyhood  he  was  an  invalid.  His  opportunities  for  education  in  the  village 
school  were  very  intermittent.  His  feeble  health  and  a  grave  uncertainty  as 
to  hi.s  ever  reaching  mature  manhood  constantly  broke  in  upon  the  systematic 
training  of  the  school.  He  filled  out  the  school  studies  in  the  invalid's 
chair  at  home.  None  predicted  for  him  length  of  days.  Even  the  cautious 
physician  made  thirty  years  the  utmost  limit  of  life  allotted  him.  He,  however, 
supplemented  his  broken  studies  with  academic  training  at  Hopkinton,  Lebanon, 
and  Franklin,  N.  H.,  and  at  Cavendish,  Vt.  Beginning  public  life  as  a  school- 
teacher at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  took  charge  of  the  village  school,  aUernating  this 
labor  with  his  studies  at  the  academies.  His  pupilage  at  Cavendish  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  promotion.  Mr.  John  Garvin  was  the  principal.  He  was  a  very 
zealous  Calvinist.  Young  Miner  was  a  no  less  zealous  Universalist.  It  was  at 
a  time  when  sectarian  lines  were  sliarply  drawn.  It  was  then  a  custom  with 
zealous  Calvinists  to  regard  Universalists,  not  simply  as  unsound  in  doctrine,  but 
also  as  wicked  in  life  and  condiu.-t !  But  Mr.  Garvin  saw  something  in  the  young 
pupil  that  dispelled  the  prejudice.  He  took  him  into  partnership  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  school  in  1834.     In  this  position  young  Miner  served  a  year. 


vS^: 


^: 


REV.    ALONZO    A.    MINER,    D.  D.  17 

In  1835,  certain  gentlemen  of  Unity,  proposing  to  establish  an  academy  at 
that  village,  saw  in  Mr.  Miner,  now  near  his  majority,  their  man.  He  accepted 
their  proposition.  The  school,  named  the  ''  Scientific  and  Military  Academy," 
was  for  both  sexes,  with  military  training  for  boys.  Four  years  of  his  principalship 
were  successful  beyond  expectation.  In  some  of  the  terms  the  number  of  schol- 
ars reached  one  hundred  and  fift}'.  August  24,  1836,  he  was  married  to  Maria 
S.  Perley  of  Lempster,  who  entered  the  school  as  preceptress.  She  has  ever 
been  his  faithful  and  devoted  helpmeet. 

Not  a  few  of  those  who  have  strong  sympathy  with  Dr.  Miners  theological 
belief  are  persuaded  that  there  was  something  providential  in  his  call  to  the  min- 
istry of  the  Universalist  church, —  the  service  he  has  rendered  that  body  being 
so  great,  in  several  regards  so  exceptional.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  con- 
verted to  Universalism.  He  literally  was  a  ''  born  Universalist."  While  anxious 
friends  assigned  but  a  narrow  limit  to  so  frail  a  constitution,  the  invalid  felt  that 
his  place  was  to  be  in  the  ministry  of  the  Universalist  church.  Of  this  he  made 
no  secret.  It  became  a  matter  of  course  that  on  reaching  maturity  he  would 
become  a  preacher  of  the  faith  he  so  deeply  cherished. 

The  success  of  the  Unity  school  might  have  fixed  another  in  the  profession 
of  teaching.  It  had  no  weight  in  diverting  31r.  Miner  from  what  he  deemed  a 
higher  call.  Several  of  his  patrons  solicited  him  to  begin  his  ministry  in  Unity 
in  connection  with  his  school  duties.  He  complied.  In  February,  1838,  he 
preached  his  first  sermon  in  Chester,  Vt.  In  the  following  May  he  began  a 
regular  ministry,  preaching  half  of  the  time  in  Unity,  and  devoting  the  other 
half  to  a  circuit  which  included  about  twenty  of  the  neighboring  villages.  After 
six  months  of  this  twofold  labor  he  resigned  his  principalship  ;  but  he  was  per- 
suaded to  remain  yet  another  year,  —  all  the  time  filling  his  appointments  on 
Sunday.  At  the  New  Hampshire  convention  of  Universalists,  held  at  Nashua, 
June,  1839,  he  was  ordained  to  the  sacred  ofiice.  In  the  November  succeeding 
he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Universalist  church  at  Methuen,  Mass. 
Such  was  the  success  of  his  new  labors  that  a  reputation  for  very  exceptional 
gifts  as  an  orator,  logician,  and  preacher,  spread.  It  was  seen  that  his  call  to  a 
larger  and  more  exacting  field  of  duty  was  but  a  question  of  early  time. 

In  the  city  of  Lowell,  the  Rev.  Abel  C.  Thomas  had  met  with  extraordinary 
success  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Universalist  church.  After  a  pastorate  of  little 
less  than  three  years  he  resigned  to  accept  a  call  to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Certain  of 
his  parishioners  said  to  him,  in  the  hearing  of  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  that  his 
withdrawal  would  he  a  calamity  to  the  Lowell  parish.  Grateful  for  this  tribute 
he  replied:  "Put  into  the  pulpit  the  man  I  will  name,  and  I  pledge  you  that  the 
church  shall  go  on  prospering  and  to  prosper."  There  was  a  pause  and  all  ears 
were  both  curious  and  anxious.  Mr.  Thomas  added:  -'That  man  is  A.  A. 
Miner."  A  unanimous  call  of  the  committee  and  of  the  congregation  was  ex- 
tended. On  the  first  Sunday  of  July,  1842,  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner  preached 
his  introductory  sermon  as  pastor  of  the  Lowell  Second  Universalist  parish. 
The  prediction  of  Mr.  Thomas  proved  true.  In  a  pastorate  of  six  years  Mr. 
Miner  greatly  strengthened,  materially  and  spiritually,  the  church  to  which  he 
ministered.  In  cordial  co-operation  with  the  pastor  of  the  First  Universalist 
church,  —  at  first  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Thayer,  and  afterwards  Rev.  E.  G.  Brooks, — 
he  labored  with  eminent  success.  The  citizens  soon  discovered  that  the  new 
minister  was  of  "many-sided  talents."  Then  began  that  drain  upon  his  strength, 
branching  oiF,  according  to  his  specialties,  into  as  many  channels,  whereby  he  has 
been,  perhaps,  as  thoroughly  and  as  variously  "  utilized  "  as  any  man  of  this 
period.  Then  began  trusts,  official  positions  on  school  boards,  charity  boards,  and 
every  other  conceivable  board,  the  faithful  performance  of  any  one  of  which 


18  REV.    ALONZO    A.    MINER,    D.  D. 

would  have  made  an  average  reputation, — all  discharged  by  one  person,  and  he 
never  having  a  thoroughly  healthy  day,  presents  simpl}'  a  marvel. 

During  an  early  year  of  his  Lowell  ministry,  a  crisis  came  in  the  career  of 
the  Universalist  church  ;  and  Lowell  happened  to  be  its  turning  point.  There 
was  a  Universalist  paper  published  at  Lowell,  the  Star  of  Bethlehem.  It  was 
edited  by  the  Universalist  pastors.  A  third  parish  had  been  founded,  and  the 
Rev.  H.  G.  Smith  became  its  pastor.  He  was  associated  with  Messrs.  Miner 
and  Brooks  in  the  management  of  the  paper,  each  contributing  over  his  own 
signature.  About  the  year  18-42  the  Unitarian  ministry  was  suddenly  rent  by 
one  of  its  ministers,  in  ability,  magnetism,  and  rhetorical  skill  without  a  peer 
among  his  brethren,  —  the  Eev.  Theodore  Parker.  He  had  adopted  Grerman 
rationalism  in  regard  to  the  Bible  and  Christianity,  and  by  the  boldness  of  his 
utterances  and  the  felicity  of  his  manner  was  rapidly  forming  that  radical  wing 
which  to-day  appears  to  dominate  in  the  Unitarian  body.  Such  a  leading  was 
not  likely  to  be  restricted  to  any  one  sect.  Was  it  to  enter  and  change  the 
character  of  the  L^niversalist  movement  ?  The  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  showed  that  he  was 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  new  doctrine ;  and  he  was  rapidly  making  converts 
among  the  younger  members  of  his  ministerial  fraternity.  Rev.  Messrs.  Miner 
and  Brooks,  fully  persuaded  that  the  new  idea  was  a  false  one,  thought  that 
they  foresaw  that  its  free  acceptance  by  the  Universalist  ministry  and  people 
would  at  an  early  day  endanger  the  stability  of  their  church.  They  met  the 
issue  without  reserve  and  with  no  regard  to  consequences  personal  to  themselves. 
In  the  pulpit  and  in  the  paper  they  vigorously  protested  against  the  course  of 
Mr.  Smith.  An  anxious  discussion  followed,  and  it  spread.  It  was  taken  into 
the  ecclesiastical  body,  the  Boston  Association,  where  a  resolution  deprecating 
and  protesting  against  the  "  deistical  innovation"  was  passed  by  a  strong  majority. 
This  was  in  1847.  A  few  years  later  the  writer  of  this  inquired  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Whittemore  in  regard  to  that  rationalistic  excitement.  His  answer  was, 
'•  Miner  and  Brooks  took  it  in  hand  at  Lowell  and  the  Association  killed  it." 
This  episode  apparently  weakened  the  Universalist  cause  in  Lowell.  The  writer 
is  one  of  the  large  number  who  have  no  doubt  that  the  promptness  and  thorough- 
ness of  the  Lowell  pastors  averted  a  calamity. 

May  1,  1848,  Mr.  Miner  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  School-street 
church,  Boston.  Having  the  entire  confidence  of  his  renowned  senior,  the 
Rev.  Ilosea  Ballou,  he  rapidly  worked  disaffection  out  of  the  parish,  thoroughly 
organized  it,  got  the  more  than  confidence  of  its  leading  members;  and  he  has 
carried  it  forward  to  the  present  day  with  a  degree  of  high  success  seldom  par- 
alleled in  any  denomination.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1851  his  people  de- 
cided to  enlarge  the  edifice.  The  closing  of  services  while  the  reconstruction 
was  in  progress  gave  Mr.  Miner  an  opportunity  to  recruit  his  wasted  strength 
by  European  travel.  In  June,  1852,  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  died  full  of  honors. 
Another  call  upon  his  administrative  ability  as  president  of  Tufts  College  led 
to  the  settlement  of  associate  ])astors.  But,  apart  from  these  interludes,  Dr. 
Miner  has  been  the  sole  pastor  since  the  death  of  Mr.  Ballou. 

In  the  move.ment  to  found  Tufts  College,  of  the  very  small  number  of  devoted 
friends.  Dr.  Miner  has  not  occui)ied  a  second  i)lace.  Subscri])iug  himself  lib- 
erally, a  few  of  his  parishioners  i'eh  the  contagion  of  example  and  made  gener- 
ous i)ledges.  The  Rev.  Otis  A.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  was  the  first  agent  for  collecting 
funds,  and  with  heroic  perseverance  in  this  pioneer  work  he  raised  the  larger  part 
of  $1  ((0,000,  —  the  minimum  upon  which  the  work  could  begin.  This,  however, 
was  but  a  beginning.  The  assets  to-day  are  not  far  from  one  million  dollars. 
The  influence  of  Dr.  Miner  in  reaching  this  result  has  been  pre-eminent.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  in  1853,  Mr.  Miner  giving  the  address.     On  the  death  of 


REV.    ALOXZO    A.    MINEK,    D.  D.  19 

its  first  president,  llev.  Hosea  Ballon,  2d.  D.  D.,  Mr.  Miner  was  constrained  to 
accept  the  presidency.  He  was  inaugurated.  July  9,  1802.  Previous  to  this,  the 
principal  trust,  he  had  served  the  college  as  trustee,  secretary,  and  treasurer.  It 
was  largely  by  his  devices  that  the  money  was  raised  to  meet  the  current  expenses 
during  the  infancy  and  the  poverty  of  the  institution. 

In  1863  Harvard  College  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  S.  T.  D.  He 
had  received  the  honorary  A.  M.  from  Tufts  in  18G1 ;  and  that  of  LL.  D.  was 
conferred  by  Tufts  in  1875.  His  presidency  continued  till  1875.  at  which  date 
he  acceded  to  the  urgent  call  of  his  parish,  and  resigned  the  presidency  of  the 
college  and  took  the  sole  pastorate  of  his  church,  which,  in  1872,  had  dedicated 
the .  large  and  costly  temple  at  the  corner  of  Columbus  avenue  and  Clarendon 
street,  in  which  it  has  worshiped  from  that  date  to  the  present.  Again  his  la- 
bor was  eftective.  Out  of  the  pulpit  as  well  as  in  it,  giving  his  heart  and  energy 
to  its  interests,  the  old  parish  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  prosperity.  A  pa.stor 
does  well  who  holds  to  himself  one  generation.  Dr.  Miner  now  has  under  his 
influence  a  third  generation,  and  the  '-spell"  is  not  weakened.  In  the  period 
of  his  pastorates,  he  has  conducted  more  than  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
funeral  services,  and  solemnized  more  than  two  thcnisand  five  hundred  weddings. 

On  removing  to  Boston,  in  1848,  Mr.  Miner  found  himself  in  the  center  of 
new  calls  upon  his  "many-sided"'  talents.  He  was  seen  to  be  financier,  organizer, 
popular  leader,  platform  orator.  Thence  ••  missions,"  multiplied  and  increased. 
The  limits  of  this  sketch  permit  but  the  baldest  statement  of  his  labors,  all  of  which 
he  has  rendered  with  singular  skill.  Of  course  he  was  put  upon  the  school  board 
of  the  city.  Then  the  state  made  demands,  and  he  is  now  serving  a  second  term 
of  eight  years  on  the  state  board  of  education.  At  a  dinner  given  in  his  honor 
on  occasion  of  his  departure  for  a  short  period  to  California,  the  then  Gov. 
Washburn  bore  testimony  to  the  inventiveness  and  far-reaching  wi.sdom  with 
which  he  was  aiding  to  advance  the  educational  interests  of  the  commonwealth. 
He  has  been  six  years  chairman  of  the  board  of  visitors  of  the  state  normal 
art  school.  He  has  served  as  one  of  the  overseers  of  Harvard  College.  He 
is  one  of  the  ••  hundred  orators,"  having  delivered  the  Fourth  of  July  oration  in 
Boston  in  1855.  Add  to  such  duties  constant  lecturing  before  lyceums,  temper- 
ance meetings,  and  peace  societies,  his  fi'equent  addresses  at  academic  commence- 
ments, and  membership  of  various  a.ssociations  which  we  have  not  space  to  men- 
tion,— how  so  many  ofiices  can  be  discharged,  and  all  with  acknowledged  fidelity, 
is  a  question  that  perplexes.  In  the  way  of  duty  he  has  made  enemies.  But 
neither  friends  nor  foes  ever  accused  him  of  seeking  any  of  these  high  responsi- 
bilities. In  every  instance  the  position  sought  the  man.  His  pre-eminent  gift 
has  seemed  to  the  writer  to  consist  in  speaking  to  a  point  and  with  a  view  to  a 
particular  effect.  When  he  appeared  before  the  legislative  committee  to  plead  for 
a  state  grant  to  Tufts  College,  the  committee  unanimously  reported  in  favor, —  one 
of  the  members  adding  that  the  eloquence  with  which  the  claim  had  been  urged 
had  convinced  the  committee  that  it  ^vas  a  claim.  The  late  Samuel  Burbank  of 
Lowell  gave  the  writer  this  incident :  Dr.  Miner  had  occasion  to  address  a 
meeting  of  stockholders  of  an  insurance  company  whose  affairs  had  got  into  a 
bad  way.  When  he  was  through,  the  late  Samuel  Lawrence,  turning  to  Mr. 
Burbank,  said :  "That  is  the  Universalist  minister.  —  well,  if  he  will  abandon 
his  pulpit  he  may  have  charge  of  any  of  our  manufactories  at  'any  salary  he 
may  ask." 

Like  his  faith,  Dr.  Miner's  interest  in  the  temperance  reform  is  a  ''born 
conviction."  From  his  youth  to  his  present  hour,  he  has  never  wavered  in  his 
belief  that  the  drinking  curse  is  the  giant  evil.  In  the  pulpit,  the  lyceum,  the 
caucus,  on  the  platform,  he  has  labored  to  create  and  enforce  law  to  resist  the 


20  REV.    ALONZO    A.    MENDER,    D.  D. 

ever  threatening  danger.  In  politics  he  makes  it  the  chief  state  issue,  and  in 
1878  was  the  candidate  of  the  Prohibition  party  for  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
In  18G7  he  led  before  the  legislative  committee  the  protest  against  the  repeal  of 
the  prohibitory  law,  in  opposition  to  the  eflPorts  of  Gov.  Andrew.  His  speech  on 
that  occasion  has  become  an  arsenal  of  facts  pertaining  to  the  ethics  and  the  prac- 
ticability of  the  statute.  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.  D.,  said  to  the  writer  of 
this:  "Your  Dr.  Miner  has  made  a  great  speech,  —  a  very  great  one:  it  will 
never  be  answered."  For  ten  years  he  has  been  the  president  of  the  Temperance 
Alliance.  In  token  of  his  great  service  before  the  legislature,  the  Alliance  pre- 
sented him  a  costly  Dore  Bible.  He  also  had  another  "  token  "  in  the  shape  of 
threatened  violence  and  the  defticement  of  his  house.  This  was  meant  as  dis- 
honor. Dishonor  ?  Could  the  apostle  articulate  his  thought,  for  what  titles 
Jerusalem  could  have  conferred  would  he  exchange  the  "forty  stripes  save  one?" 
But  in  all  these  varied  toils,  his  church  and  faith  have  had  the  uppermost 
place.  By  instinct  and  habit  an  extemporaneous  speaker,  the  one  field  he  has 
least  worked  is  that  of  literature  with  the  pen.  An  occasional  article  for  the 
church  periodicals  and  a  Sunday-school  manual  have  at  times  occupied  him. 
But  most  of  his  i^ublished  works  were  spoken,  and  taken  down  by  reporters. 
He  is  one  of  some  half-dozen  Boston  preachers  who  are  favorites  with  the  report- 
ers of  the  Boston  dailies.  "  Old  Forts  Taken,"  his  latest  publication,  was  the 
rhetoric  of  his  "  off  hand'  speaking,  save  as  the  transcript  of  the  reporter  may 
have  been  revised.  But,  whether  laboring  by  speech  or  pen,  he  has  never  per- 
mitted any  duty  or  position  to  hold  other  than  a  second  place  beside  his  duties 
to  the  church  of  his  love. 

In  the  movement  which  has  transformed  the  once  scattered  societies  of  his 
denomination  into  a  compact,  organized,  and  working  church,  no  one  has  rendered 
a  more  effective  service.  Of  its  first  Home  Mission  he  is  literally  the  pioneer. 
No  one  more  faithfully  represents  the  controversial  and  aggressive  spirit  of  the 
doctrines  of  his  Church  ;  but  no  one  has  done  moi'e  to  make  that  church  efiective 
for  practical  righteousness  and  Christian  worship.  He  has  now  reached  the  de- 
cline, not  of  his  powers,  nor  of  his  zeal,  nor  of  his  work,  but  only  of  his  years. 
May  the  evening  of  his  days  be  as  serene  and  pleasant  as  his  youth  and  maturity 
have  been  industrious,  faithful,  and  true. 


COL.  HENRY  0.  KENT. 


BY    H.    H.    METCALF. 


Among  the  best  known  of  the  representative  men  of  New  Hampshire,  Col. 
Henry  0.  Kent  of  Lancaster  is  conceded  a  prominent  position.  The  Kent 
family  is  of  English  origin,  the  first  of  the  name  in  this  country  being  among  the 
settlers  of  old  Newbury,  Mass.,  in  1635.  John  Kent,  a  scion  of  this  stock,  died 
in  1780,  at  Cape  Ann,  Mass.,  aged  eighty  years.  His  son,  Jacob,  born  at  Che- 
bacco  (now  Essex),  Mass.,  in  1726,  settled  in  Plaistow  in  this  state.  In  1760,  a 
regiment  commanded  by  Col.  John  Goife  was  raised  in  New  Hampshire  for  the 
invasion  of  Canada,  one  company  of  which  was  officered  by  John  Hazen,  cap- 
tain;  Jacob  Kent  (above  named),  first  lieutenant;  and  Timothy  Beadle,  second 
lieutenant.  This  regiment  marched  to  Number  Four  (Charlestown),  cutting  a 
road  through  the  forest  to  the  Green  Mountains,  and  thence  to  Crown  Point  on 
Lake  Champlain,  where  they  took  water  transportation.  After  a  successful  cam- 
paign they  returned  through  the  wilderness,  via  the  Newbury  meadows  or  the 
"Cohos  country,"  with  the  fertility  of  which  region  Lieut.-Col.  Jacob  Bayley, 
Capt.  Hazen,  and  Lieutenants  Kent  and  Beadle  were  so  favorably  impressed  that 
they  determined  to  return  and  found  a  settlement.  The  project  was  soon  carried 
out,  Bayley  and  Kent  locating  on  the  western,  and  Hazen  and  Beadle  on  the  east- 
ern, side  of  the  river,  from  which  settlements  sprang  the  towns  of  Newbury  and 
Haverhill.  Jacob  Kent  died  at  Newbury,  in  1812,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years. 
He  was  a  noted  man  in  his  section,  commander  of  the  first  company  of  militia  in 
the  towns  of  Newbury  and  Haverhill  "  in  our  province  of  New  Hampshire,"  as 
says  his  commission,  signed  in  1764  by  Benning  Wentworth,  Avhich,  with  his 
sword,  borne  in  two  wars,  is  now  in  Col.  Kent's  possession.  During  the  Revo- 
lution, while  burdened  with  the  cares  of  the  infant  settlement,  he  was  an  earnest 
actor  in  the  scenes  which  gave  us  our  independence.  He  was  colonel  of  the 
forces  in  his  vicinity,  and  on  the  advance  of  Burgoyne  started  with  his  regi- 
ment for  the  field,  and  was  present  with  it  at  the  capitulation  at  Saratoga.  The 
original  homestead  is  still  in  the  family.  Col.  Jacob  Kent  — a  gentleman  through 
a  long  life  well  known  in  the  political,  military,  and  social  circles  of  Vermont  — 
being  the  present  owner. 

Jacob  Kent,  first  named,  left  three  sons,  —  Jacob,  John,  and  Joseph.  John 
Kent,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  settled  in  the  town  of  Lyman, 
where  he  died  in  1842,  leaving  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  father  of  Col. 
Kent  —  Richard  Peabody  Kent — was  one  of  these  sons,  his  mother,  Tabitha 
Peabody,  being  a  daughter  of  Lieutenant  Richard  Peabody  of  the  Revolutionary 
army.  He  is  still  in  active  business  in  Lancaster,  where  he  settled  and  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  in  1828.  During  this  long  career  his  affairs  have  been 
transacted  with  scrupidous  integrity,  exactitude,  and  honor.  Though  never  in 
public  life,  he  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  material  and  educational 
welfare  of  the  community.     On  the  maternal  side    the  ancestry  of  Col.  Kent  is 


22  COL.    HENRY    O.    KENT. 

traced  to  Ric-hard  Mann,  '-a  planter  in  tlie  family  of  Elder  Brewster,"  who  was 
one  of  the  colony  of  the  Mayflower.  From  him  descended  that  John  Mann, 
born  December  2b,  1743,  who  was  the  first  permanent  settler  of  the  town  of  Or- 
ford.  X.  H.,  October,  1765.  To  him  were  born  fifteen  children,  of  whom  Solo- 
mon ]Maun  was  well  known  in  the  state.  Emily,  second  daughter  of  Solomon 
Mann,  married  Henry  Oakes,  an  active  and  well  known  business  man  at  Water- 
ford  and  Fairlee,  Vt.  To  Henry  and  Emily  (Mann)  Oakes  were  born  three 
daughters  and  a  son.  One  of  the  daughters,  Emily  Mann  Oakes,  was  married 
to  Kichard  V.  Kent  at  Littleton.  June  5.  1882.  To  this  union  there  were  born 
three  children  —  sons — Henry  Oakes.  Edward  Richard,  and  Charles  Nelson. 

Henry  Oakes  Kent  was  born  in  Lancaster,  February  7,  1834.  He  at- 
tended the  district  school  and  Lancaster  Academy,  and  graduated  from  Norwich 
Military  University  in  the  class  of  1854.  receiving  later  the  degree  of  A.  M.  He 
studied  law  with  Hon  Jacob  Benton,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Lancaster  in 
May,  1858.  Soon  after,  he  became  the  proprietor  of  the  Coos  Republican,  and 
assumed  the  editorial  and  business  management  of  that  paper,  his  strong  interest 
in  political  aftairs  and  the  fortunes  of  the  Republican  party,  with  which  he  was 
actively  indentified,  impelling  him  to  this  step,  in  taking  which  he  relinquished 
the  prospect  of  a  successful  and  distinguished  career  at  the  bar.  In  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Repahlican,  both  financial  and  editorial,  he  displayed  rare  skill  and 
aV)ility.  His  leading  articles  were  always  strong,  vigorous,  earnest,  and  secured 
for  his  paper,  notwithstanding  its  remote  location  from  the  Capital,  an  influential 
position  among  the  party  journals  of  the  state.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  from  the 
time  when  he  assumed  its  management  until  1870.  when  he  sold  it,  —  a  period  of 
twelve  years.  —  no  paper  in  the  state  rendered  more  efficient  support  to  the  party 
with  which  it  was  allied,  or  advocated  more  heartily  all  measures  tending  to  ad- 
vance the  material  ])rosperity  of  the  section  in  which  it  was  located,  than  did  the 
Coos  Repnhlicun  under  the  direction  of  Col.  Kent. 

Since  1870  he  has  attended  to  a  large  and  growing  general  office  business,  to 
which  he  had  previously  given  more  or  less  attention,  and  also  to  the  interests  of 
the  Savings  Bank  for  the  County  of  Coos,  for  which  institution  he  secured  the 
charter  in  1868,  and  of  which  he  is  and  has  been  a  trustee  and  the  treasurer. 
He  is  also  an  owner  and  manager  of  the  Lancaster  paper-mill ;  is  treasurer  of 
the  Pleasant  Valley  Starch  Company,  and  is  president  of  the  Lancaster  and  Kil- 
kenny Railroad  Company,  a  corporation  organized  to  develop  the  resources  of  the 
ailjoining  forest  town  of  Kilkenny.  The  encouragement  of  local  enterprise  and 
industry  has.  indeed,  always  been  one  of  his  characteristics. 

As  has  been  indicated.  Col.  Kent  entered  political  life  as  a  Republican,  and 
was  an  active  advocate  of  the  cause  and  policy  of  that  party,  with  pen  and  voice, 
until  after  the  election  of  Gen.  Grant  to  the  presidency.  In  1855,  when  but 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  was  cliosen  assistant  clerk  of  the  house  of  represent- 
atives, and  re-elected  the  fillitwing  year.  In  1857  he  was  chosen  clerk  of  the 
linuse,  discharging  the  duties  of  that  ofliice,  for  three  successive  years,  with  a 
readiness  and  efficiency  which  have  never  been  excelled  by  any  incumbent.  In 
those  days  the  previous  (|uesti(>n  was  not  in  vogue,  and  roll-calls  were  frequent. 
So  familiar  <liil  Col.  Kent  become  with  the  roll,  which  embraced  over  three  hun- 
dred names,  that  he  called  it  from  memory,  and  it  is  related  that,  having  called 
the  roll  nineteen  times  in  one  day,  it  became  so  impressed  upon  his  mind  that  he 
called  it  over  at  night  in  his  sleep,  after  retiring  at  the  Eagle.  In  1862  he  was 
chosen  a  representative  from  Lancaster,  and  served  with  marked  ability,  his  pre- 
vious experience  as  clerk  admirably  fitting  him  for  the  discharge  of  legislative 
duties.  He  served  that  year  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  aflfairs, 
a  position  of  great    imjiortance,  considering   the   fact   that  we  were   then    in   the 


COL.    HENRY    O.    KENT.  23 

midst  of  the  war  period.  His  next  appearance  in  the  legislature  was  in  1868, 
when  he  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  railroads,  and  again  in  1869, 
when  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  finance  committee.  During  each  year  .of  his 
Icislative  service  he  occupied  a  prominent  position  among  the  leaders  of  his 
party  in  the  house,  displaying  marked  ability  in  debate,  and  energy  and  industry 
in  the  committee-room. 

In  1858  a  commission  was  appointed,  by  the  states  of  Elaine  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, "to  ascertain,  survey,  and  mark"  the  boundary  between  them.  The  line 
had  been  established  in  1784,  and  revised  in  1825,  when  Ichabod  Bartlett  and 
John  W.  Weeks  were  the  commissioners  on  the  part  of  New  Hampshire.  The 
duty  of  representing  this  state  upon  the  commission  of  1858  was  assigned  to 
Col.  Kent,  and  the  work  was  performed  during  the  autumn  of  that  year,  through 
the  wilderness,  from  the  Crown  Monument,  as  far  south  as  the  towns  of  Frye- 
burg  and  Conway.  Col.  Kent's  connection  with  this  work  is  perpetuated  in  the 
mountain  bearing  his  name,  on  the  northeastern  frontier,  laid  down  on  the  state 
map  of  1860,  and  in  subsequent  surveys.  In  1864  he  was  one  one  of  the  presi- 
dential electors  of  this  state,  and  from  1866  to  1868  inclusive,  he  was  one  of 
the  bank  commissioners. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  Col.  Kent  volunteered  in  aid  of  the  Union 
cause.  He  was  ordered  to  Concord  by  Grov.  Goodwin,  commissioned  assistant 
adjutant-general,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  assigned  to  duty  in  the  recruit- 
ing service.  Raising  a  company  in  a  few  days  at  Lancaster,  he  was  ordered  to 
Portsmouth,  where  he  aided  to  organize  and  send  out  the  Second  Regiment  and 
to  fit  the  garrison  at  Fort  Constitution.  He  continued  on  duty  as  assistant 
adjutant-general  (the  only  one  ever  appointed  in  New  Hampshire)  until  after 
the  earlier  regiments  had  left  the  state ;  but  when  a  call  was  issued  for  three 
additional  regiments  from  New  Hampshire,  in  the  fall  of  1862,  he  was  commis- 
sioned colonel  of  the  Seventeenth,  which  was  raised  mainly  by  his  personal  efforts 
and  upon  the  strength  of  his  name,  and  organized  and  thoroughly  drilled  and 
disciplined  under  his  command.  Under  the  exigencies  of  the  service,  however, 
and  by  orders  received  from  the  secretary  of  war,  the  regiment  was  consolidated  with 
the  Second,  whose  ranks  had  become  heavily  depleted,  the  men  being  transferred 
and  the  ofiicers  necessarily  mustered  out,  the  governor  in  "general  orders."  regret- 
ting the  necessity  for  this  action  and  complimenting  the  Seventeenth  for  its  high 
discipline  and  soldierly  demeanor.  As  it  was,  few  men,  if  any,  in  the  state,  did 
more  than  Col.  Kent  to  promote  the  efiiciency  of  the  service,  and  to  maintain 
the  reputation  of  New  Hampshire  for  prompt  and  patriotic  effort  in  the  Union 
cause,  —  a  cause  which  he  sustained  by  pen  and  voice  and  active  personal  effort 
throughout  the  entire  struggle.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  since  its  organization,  is  past  commander  of  his  Post,  and  is  a 
frequent  and  popular  speaker  at  the  A^eterans'  reunions  and  on  Memorial-day 
occasions. 

Col.  Kent  was  an  active  member  of  the  organization  known  as  the  "  Gov- 
ernor's Horse-Guards,"  which  was  formed  for  parade  cm  the  occasion  of  the 
annual  inauirnration  of  the  irovernor,  in  which  he  held  the  office  of  major  in 
1860,  and  rode  as  colonel  in\863,  1864,  and  1865. 

In  his  as.sociation  with,  and  labor  for,  the  Republican  party.  Col.  Kent  was 
actuated  by  his  opposition  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  which  he  regarded  as 
prejudicial  to  the  republic.  He  maintained  his  convictions  earnestly,  yet  candidly, 
in  his  paper  and  on  the  stump.  But  after  the  war  and  the  downfall  of  slavery, 
he  favored  the  burial  of  past  i.ssues  and  sectional  bitterness,  and  the  restoration 
of  fraternal  relations,  as  essential  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country.  Re- 
garding the  policy  of  the  administration  as  inimical  to  such  result,  he  was  unable 


24  COL.    HENRY    O.    KENT. 

to  sustain  it.  He  thierefore  disposed  of  his  paper,  wtich  as  a  party  organ  lie 
could  not  conscientiously  carry  to  the  opposition,  and  engaged  in  the  development 
and  organization  of  the  Liberal  movement,  which  resulted  in  the  Cincinnati  con- 
vention and  the  nomination  of  Horace  Greeley  for  president  in  1872.  He  partici- 
pated in  that  convention,  and  was  a  member  of  the  National  and  chairman  of 
the  State  Liberal  Republican  committee  in  1872  and  1873.  In  1873  the  Lib- 
erals ran  an  independent  state  ticket,  but  united  with  the  Democracy  on  a  common 
platform  in  1874.  The  resolutions  of  the  Liberal  convention,  announcing  such 
purpose,  were  presented  in  the  Democratic  convention  by  Col.  Kent,  whose  ap- 
pearance and  announcement  elicited  strong  demonstrations  of  enthusiasm  in  that 
body.  The  campaign  thus  opened,  ended  in  the  election  of  a  Democratic  gov- 
ernor and  legislature, —  a  result  to  which  the  earnest  labors  of  Col.  Kent  largely 
contributed.  In  recognition  of  his  efl&cient  services,  as  well  as  acknowledged 
ability,  he  was  accorded  the  Democratic  congressional  nomination  in  the  third 
district  in  1875,  and  again  in  1877  and  1878.  In  each  of  the  attendant  can- 
vasses, he  spoke  continuously,  and  ran  largely  ahead  of  his  party  vote,  especially 
in  his  own  town  and  vicinity.  In  all  subsequent  campaigns  Col.  Kent  has 
heartily  devoted  his  energies  to  the  furtherance  of  Democratic  principles,  and 
has  been  active  upon  the  stump  in  New  Hampshire  and  outside  the  state,  and 
always  with  numerous  calls  and  large  audiences. 

Col.  Kent  is  now  fully  engaged  in  the  direction  of  his  business  concerns,  which 
furnish  an  ample  field  for  his  energies  and  talent ;  yet  he  has  in  no  degree  abated 
his  interest  in  public  and  political  afi'airs.  As  has  been  said,  he  has  given  earnest 
encouragement  to  all  enterprises  calculated  to  promote  the  material  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  his  section.  In  the  advancement  of  educational  interests  he  has 
also  been  earnestly  engaged.  He  is  a  trustee  and  chairman  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  corporation  of  Lancaster  Academy,  and  is  also  a  trustee  of 
Norwich  University,  and  president  of  the  "  xissociated  Alumni  and  Past  Cadets" 
of  that  institution.  In  1875  he  addressed  the  Associated  Alumni  at  their  re- 
union, and  in  1876,  by  request,  delivered  an  address  at  commencement  which  for 
its  elo([uence  and  patriotic  sentiments  secured  hearty  and  general  commendation. 
He  was,  last  year,  one  of  the  corporators  of  the  Yorktown  Centennial  Association, 
nanied  by  the  legislature  of  Virginia.  He  has  long  been  prominent  in  the  Ma- 
sonic (jrder,  having  passed  the  chair  in  North  Star  "Lodge  at  Lancaster,  and  fre- 
fpumtly  been  district  deputy  grand  master.  In  1868  and  1869  he  was  grand 
commander  of  the  (n-der  of  Knights  Templars  and  appendant  orders  for  the 
jurisdiction  of  New  Hampshire.  In  1880  he  was  made  the  recipient  of  a  past 
master's  badge  of  solid  gold,  from  the  Masons  of  his  section. 

Col.  Kent  was  married,  in  Boston,  January  11,  1859,  to  Berenice  A.  Howell. 
They  have  two  children,  a  daughter,  —  Berenice  Emily,  —  born  October  31,  1866, 
and  a  son,  —  Henry  Percy, — born  March  8,  1870.  His  religious  associations  are 
with  the  Epi.scopal  church,  and  he  is,  with  his  family,  a  reo-ular  attendant  upon 
the  service  of  St.  Paul's  at  Lancaster. 

0|  fine  presence,  genial  and  courteous  manners,  and  strong  personal  magnetism, 
public  spirited,  generous,  and  obliging,  his  popularity  in  his  section  is  great,  as  is 
evidence<l  by  the  large  vote  which  he  always  receives  when  his  name  is  upon  the 
ticket,  in  his  own  town.  Still  young,  endowed  with  strong  mental  powers,  well 
known  jus  a  writer  and  public  si)eaker,  ambitious  and  courageous,  it  is  fair  to 
presuine  that  he  will  yet  attain  still  greater  prominence  and  usefulness  in  public 
and  private  life. 


c 


Tin-:  .ivrR/r.i.v  roMOLoaicii  ^oariT 


vitf:snit::vT  ny  Tli. 


MARSHALL  P.  WILDER.  PH.  U. 


BY   JOHN    WARD    DEAN,    A.  M., 
Librarian  of  the  New  England  Historic-Genealogical  Society. 


There  are  few  men  in  our  community  whose  lives  afford  as  striking  an 
example  of  what  can  be  achieved  by  concentration  of  power  and  unconquerable 
perseverance  as  does  that  of  Col.  Wilder.  The  bare  enumeration  of  the  im- 
portant positions  he  has  held,  and  still  holds,  and  the  self-sacrificing  labors  he  hsis 
performed  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  extraordinary  talent  and  ability,  and  the 
personal  power  and  influence,  which  have  enabled  him  to  take  a  front  rank  as  a 
benefactor  to  mankind. 

Marshall  Pinckney  Wilder,  whose  christian  names  were  given  in  honor 
of  Chief-Justice  Marshall  and  General  Pinckney,  eminent  statesmen  at  the  time 
he  was  born,  was  the  oldest  son  of  Samuel  Locke  Wilder,  Esq.,  of  Rindge,  N.  H., 
and  was  born  in  that  town,  September  22,  1798.  His  father,  a  nephew  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Locke,  D.  D.,  president  of  Harvard  College,  for  whom  he  was 
named,  was  thirteen  years  a  representative  in  the  New  Hampshire  legislature,-  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Rindge  and  held  important  town  offices 
there.  His  mother,  Anna,  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Crombie)  Sherwin, 
(married  May  2,  1797,)  a  lady  of  great  moral  worth,  was,  as  her  son  is,  a  warm 
admirer  of  the  beauties  of  nature. 

The  Wilders  are  an  ancient  English  family,  which  the  "  Book  of  the  Wilders," 
published  a  few  years  ago,  traces  to  Nicholas  Wilder,  a  military  chieftain  in  the 
army  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth,  1485.  There  is  strong 
presumptive  evidence  that  the  American  family  is  an  offshoot  from  this.  Presi- 
dent Chadbourne  in  his  life  of  Col.  Wilder,  and  the  author  of  the  "  Book  of  the 
Wilders,"  give  reasons  for  this  opinion.  The  paternal  ancestors  of  Col.  Wilder 
in  this  country  performed  meritorious  services  in  the  Indian  wars,  in  the  Ameri- 
can revolution,  and  in  Shays'  rebellion.  His  grandfather  was  one  of  the  seven 
delegates  from  the  county  of  Worcester,  in  the  Massachusetts  convention  of  1788, 
for  ratifying  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  who  voted  in  favor  of  it. 
Isaac  Goodwin,  Esq.,  in  the  Worcester  Magazine,  Vol.  ii.  page  45,  bears  this 
testimony:  "Of  all  the  ancient  Lancaster  families,  there  is  no  one  that  has 
sustained  so  many  important  offices  as  that  of  Wilder." 

At  the  age  of  four  Marshall  was  sent  to  school,  and  at  twelve  he  entered 
New  Ipswich  Academy,  his  father  desiring  to  give  him  a  collegiate  education, 
with  reference  to  a  profession.  When  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen,  his  fiithcr 
gave  him  the  choice,  either  to  qualify  himself  for  a  farmer,  or  for  a  merchant,  or 
to  fit  for  college.  He  chose  to  be  a  farmer  ;  and  to  this  choice  may  we  attribute 
in  no  small  degree  the  mental  and  physical  energy  which  has  distinguished  so 
many  years  of  his  life.     But  the  business  of  his  father  incTeased  so  much  that  he 

Portrait  taken  at  the  age  of  seventy. 


26  MARSHALL    P.    WILDER,    PH.  D. 

was  taken  into  tlie  store.  He  here  acquired  such  habits  of  industry  that  at  the 
ao-e  of  twenty-one  he  became  a  partner,  and  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Rindge. 

In  1825,  he  sought  a  wider  field  of  action  and  removed  to  Boston.  Here  he 
beo-an  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Wilder  &  Payson,  in  Union  street,  then  as 
Wilder  &  Smith,  in  North  Market  street,  and  next  in  his  own  name,  at  No.  3, 
Central  wharf.  In  1837  he  became  a  partner  in  the  commission  house  of  Par- 
ker, Blanchard,  &  Wilder,  Water  street,  next  Parker,  Wilder,  &  Parker,  Pearl 
street,  and  now  Parker,  Wilder,  &  Co.,  Winthrop  square.  Mr.  Wilder  is  the  old- 
est commission  merchant  in  domestic  fabrics  in  active  business  in  Boston.  He 
has  passed  through  various  crises  of  commercial  embarrassments,  and  yet  he  has 
never  failed  to  meet  his  obligations.  He  was  an  original  director  in  the  Hamil- 
ton, now  Hamilton  National,  Bank,  and  in  the  National  Insurance  Company. 
The  latter  trust  he  has  held  over  forty  years,  and  he  is  now  in  his  fiftieth  year  in 
the  former.  He  has  been  a  director  in  the  New  England  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Company  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  also  a  director  in  other  similar  institutions. 

But  trade  and  the  acquisition  of  wealth  have  not  been  the  all-engrossing  pur- 
suits of  his  life.  His  inherent  love  of  rural  pursuits  led  him,  in  1832,  to 
purchase  a  house  in  Dorchester  originally  built  by  Gov.  Increase  Sumner,  where, 
after  devoting  a  proper  time  to  business,  he  gave  his  leisure  to  horticulture  and 
ao-riculture.  He  spared  no  expense,  he  rested  from  no  efforts,  to  instill  into  the 
public  mind  a  love  of  an  employment  so  honorable  and  useful.  He  cultivated 
his  own  grounds,  imported  seeds,  plants,  and  trees,  and  endeavored  by  his  example 
to  encourage  labor  and  elevate  the  rank  of  the  husbandman.  His  garden,  green- 
houses, and  a  forest  of  fruit-trees  occupied  the  time  he  could  spare  from  business, 
and  here  he  has  prosecuted  his  favorite  investigations,  year  after  year,  for  half  a 
century,  to  the  present  day. 

Soon  after  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  was  formed,  Mr.  Wilder 
was  associated  with  the  late  Gren.  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn,  its  first  president,  and 
from  that  time  till  now  has  been  one  of  its  most  efiicient  members,  having  two 
years  since  delivered  the  oration  on  the  occasion  of  its  fiftieth  anniversary.  One 
of  the  most  important  acts  of  this  society  was  the  purchase  of  Mount  Auburn  for 
a  cemetery  and  an  ornamental  garden.  On  the  separation  of  the  cemetery  from 
the  society,  in  1835,  through  Mr.  Wilder's  influence,  committees  were  appointed 
by  the  two  corporations.  Judge  Story  being  chairman  of  the  cemetery  committee, 
and  ^Ir.  Wilder  of  the  society  committee.  The  situation  was  fraught  with 
great  difficulties;  but  Mr.  Wilder's  conservative  course,  everywhere  acknowl- 
edged, overcame  them  all,  and  enabled  the  society  to  erect  an  elegant  hall  in 
School  street,  and  afterwards  the  splendid  building  it  now  occupies  in  Tremont 
street,  the  most  magnificent  horticultural  hall  in  the  world.  In  1840  he  was 
chosen  president,  and  held  the  office  for  eight  successive  years.  During  his  presi- 
dency the  hall  in  School  street  was  erected,  and  two  triennial  festivals  were  held 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  which  are  particularly  worthy  of  notice.  The  first  was  opened 
September  11,  1845,  and  the  second  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  birth, 
September  22,  1848,  when  he  retired  from  the  office  of  president,  and  the  society 
voted  him  a  silver  pitcher  valued  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  caused  his 
portrait  to  be  placed  in  its  hall.  As  president  of  this  association  he  headed  a 
circular  for  a  convention  of  fruit-growers,  which  was  held  in  New  York,  October 
10,  1848,  when  the  American  lV)mological  Society  was  formed.  He  was  chosen 
its  first  president,  and  he  still  holds  that  office,  being  in  his  thirty-third  year  of 
service.  Its  biennial  meetings  have  been  held  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Cin- 
cinnati, Boston,  Rochester,  St.  Louis,  Ri(;hmond,  Chicago,  and  Baltimore.  On 
these  occa-sions  President  Wilder  has  made  appropriate  addresses.  The  last 
meeting  was  held  September,  1881,  at  Boston,  where  he  presided  with  his  usual 
vigor  and  propriety,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-three. 


MARSHALL    T.    WILDER,    PH.  D.  27 

In  February,  1849,  the  Norfolk  Agricultural  Society  was  formed.  Mr. 
Wilder  was  chosen  president,  and  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  vice-presi- 
dent. Before  this  society,  his  first  address  on  agricultural  education  was  delivered. 
This  was  the  first  general  effort  in  that  cause  in  this  country.  He  was  president 
twenty  years,  and  on  his  retirement  he  was  constituted  honorary  president,  and  a 
resolution  was  passed  recognizing  his  eminent  ability  and  usefulness  in  promoting 
the  arts  of  horticulture  and  agriculture,  and  his  personal  excellence  in  every  de- 
partment of  life.  He  next  directed  his  eff"orts  to  establishing  the  Massachusetts 
board  of  agriculture,  organized,  as  the  Massachusetts  Central  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture, at  a  meeting  of  delegates  of  agricultural  societies  in  the  state,  September, 
1851,  in  response  to  a  circular  issued  by  him  as  president  of  the  Norfolk  Agri- 
cultural Society.  He  was  elected  president,  and  held  the  office  till  1852,  when 
it  became  a  department  of  the  state,  and  he  is  now  the  senior  member  of  that 
board.  In  1858  the  Massachusetts  School  of  Agriculture  was  incorporated,  and 
he  was  chosen  president ;  but  before  the  school  was  opened  congress  granted  land 
to  the  several  states  for  agricultural  colleges,  and  in  1865  the  legislature  incor- 
porated the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College.  He  was  named  the  first  trustee. 
In  1871  the  first  class  was  graduated,  and  in  1878  he  had  the  honor  of  conferring 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  on  twenty  young  gentlemen  graduates.  He 
delivered  addresses  on  both  occasions.  In  1852,  through  his  instrumentality,  the 
United  States  Agricultural  Society  was  organized  at  Washington.  This  society, 
of  which  he  was  president  for  the  first  six  years,  exercised  a  beneficial  influence 
till  the  breaking  out  of  the  late  civil  war.  He  is  a  member  of  many  horticul- 
tural and  agricultural  societies  in  this  and  foreign  lands. 

Col.  Wilder,  at  an  early  age,  took  an  interest  in  military  affairs.  At  sixteen 
he  was  enrolled  in  the  New  Hampshire  militia,  and  at  twenty-one  he  was  com- 
missioned adjutant.  He  organized  and  equipped  the  Rindge  Light  Infantry,  and 
was  chosen  its  captain.  At  twenty-five  he  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel,  and  at 
twenty-six  was  commissioned  as  colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Regiment. 

Soon  after  his  removal  to  Boston  he  joined  the  Ancient  and  Honorable 
Artillery  Company.  In  1856  he  was  chosen  commander  of  the  corps,  having  four 
times  previously  declined  nominations.  He  entered  into  correspondence  with 
Prince  Albert,  commander  of  the  Royal  Artillery  Company  of  London,  founded 
in  1537,  of  which  this  corps,  chartered  in  1638,  is  the  only  offspring.  This  cor- 
respondence established  a  friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  companies.  In 
June,  1857,  Prince  Albert  was  chosen  a  special  honorary  member  of  our  com- 
pany, and  twenty-one  years  later,  in  1878,  Col.  Wilder,  who  then  celebrated  the 
fiftieth  or  golden  anniversary  of  his  own  membership,  nominated  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  present  commander  of  the  London  company,  as  an  honorary  member. 
They  are  the  only  two  honorary  members  that  have  been  elected  by  the  company, 
and  both  were  commanders  of  the  Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  London  when 
chosen.  The  late  elegantly  illustrated  history  of  the  London  company  contains  a 
portrait  of  Col.  Wilder  as  he  appeared  in  full  uniform  on  that  occasion. 

In  1839,  he  was  induced  to  serve  for  a  single  term  in  the  Massachusetts  legis- 
lature as  a  representative  for  the  town  of  Dorchester.  In  1849  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  Gov.  Briggs's  council,  and  the  year  following,  a  member  of  the 
senate  and  its  president.  In  1860,  he  was  the  member  for  New  England  of  the 
national  committee  of  the  "  Constitutional  Union  party,"  and  attended,  as  chair- 
man of  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  the  National  convention  in  Baltimore, 
where  John  Bell  and  Edward  Everett  were  nominated  for  president  and  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States. 

He  was  initiated  in  Charity  Lodge  No.  18,  in  Troy,  N.  H.,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  exalted  to  the  Royal  Arch   Chapter,  Cheshire  No.  4,  and  knighted 


28  MARSHALL    P.    WILDER,    PH.  D. 

in  the  Boston  Encampment.  He  was  deputy  grand  master  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  Massachusetts,  and  was  one  of  the  six  thousand  Masons  who  signed,  Dec.  31, 
1831,  the  celebrated  "Declaration  of  the  Freemasons  of  Boston  and  Vicinity;" 
and  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  that  event,  just  celebrated  in  Boston,  Mr. 
Wilder  responded  for  the  survivors,  six  of  the  signers  being  present.  He  has 
received  all  the  Masonic  degrees,  including  the  33d,  or  highest  and  last  honor 
of  the  fraternity.  At  the  World's  Masonic  convention,  in  1867,  at  Paris,  he 
was  the  only  delegate  from  the  United  States  who  spoke  at  the  banquet. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1849,  a  festival  of  the  Sons  of  New  Hampshire 
was  celebrated  in  Boston.  The  Hon.  Daniel  Webster  presided,  and  Mr.  Wilder 
was  the  first  vice-president.  Fifteen  hundred  sons  of  the  Grranite  State  were 
present.  The  association  again  met  on  the  29th  of  October,  1852,  to  partici- 
pate in  the  obsequies  of  Mr.  Webster  at  Faneuil  Hall.  On  this  occasion  the 
legislature  and  other  citizens  of  New  Hampshire  were  received  at  the  Lowell 
depot,  and  addressed  by  Mr.  Wilder  in  behalf  of  the  sons  of  that  state  resident 
in  Boston. 

The  Sons  celebrated  their  second  festival  Nov.  2,  1853,  at  which  Mr.  Wilder 
occupied  the  chair  as  president,  and  delivered  one  of  his  most  eloquent  speeches. 
They  assembled  again  June  20, 1861,  to  receive  and  welcome  the  New  Hampshire 
regiment  of  volunteers  and  escort  them  to  Music  Hall,  where  Mr.  Wilder  ad- 
dressed them  in  a  patriotic  speech  on  their  departure  for  the  field  of  battle. 

The  two  hundred  and  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  Dorchester 
was  celebrated  on  the  4th  of  July,  1855.  The  oration  was  by  Edward  Everett ; 
^Ir.  Wilder  presided  and  delivered  an  able  address.  On  the  central  tablet  of 
the  great  pavilion  was  this  inscription:  "Marshall  P.  Wilder,  President  of  the 
Day.  Blessed  is  he  that  turneth  the  waste  places  into  a  garden,  and  maketh  the 
wilderness  to  blossom  as  a  rose." 

In  January,  1868,  he  was  solicited  to  take  the  office  of  president  of  the  New 
l^iigland  Historic-G-enealogical  Society,  vacated  by  the  death  of  Grov.  Andrew, 
lie  was  unanimously  elected,  and  is  now  serving  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  presi- 
dency. At  every  annual  meeting  he  has  delivered  an  appropriate  address.  In 
his  first  address  he  urged  the  importance  of  procuring  a  suitable  building  for  the 
society.  In  1870,  he  said  :  "  The  time  has  now  arrived  when  absolute  necessity, 
public  sentiment,  and  personal  obligations  demand  that  this  work  be  done  and 
done  quickly."  Feeling  himself  pledged  by  this  address,  he,  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  then  appointed,  devoted  three  months  entirely  to  the  object  of  solicit- 
ing funds,  (luring  which  time  more  than  forty  thousand  dollars  was  generously 
contributed  by  friends  of  the  association;  and  thus  the  handsome  edifice,  No. 
IS  Somerset  street,  was  procured.  This  building  was  dedicated  to  the  use  of  the 
society,  March  18,  1871.  He  has  since  obtained  donations  amounting  to  upwards 
of  twelve  thousand  dollars,  as  a  fund  for  ])aying  the  salary  of  the  librarian. 

In  1859,  he  ])resided  at  the  first  ])ublic  meeting  called  in  Boston  in  regard  to 
the  collocation  of  institutions  on  the  Back  Bay  lands,  where  the  splendid  edifices 
of  tlu!  B(jston  Society  of  Natural  History  and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technoliigy  now  stand.  Of  the  latter  institution  he  has  been  a  vice-president, 
and  the  chairman  of  its  Society  of  Arts. 

He  was  one  of  the  twelve  representative  men  appointed  to  receive  the  Prince 
of  Wales  in  1860,  at  the  banquet  given  him  in  Boston  ;  also  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners in  behalf  of  the  Universal  Exposition  in  Paris,  1867,  when  he  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  committee  on  horticulture  and  the  cultivation  and  products  of 
the  vine,  the  report  of  which  w;is  published  by  act  of  congress. 

In  1869,  he  made  a  trip  to  the  South  for  the  purpose  of  examining  its 
resources;  and  in  1870.  with  a  large  party,  he  visited  California.     The  result  of 


MAKSHALL    P.    WILDER,    PH.  D.  29 

Mr.  Wilder's  observations  have  been  given  to  tbe  public  in  a  lecture  before  the 
Massachusetts  state  board  of  agriculture,  which  was  repeated  before  the  Boston 
Mercantile  Library  Association,  the  Amherst  and  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
colleges,  Dartmouth  College,  the  Horticultural  Society,  and  the  merchants  ot 
Philadelphia,  and  bodies  in  other  places. 

His  published  speeches  and  writings  now  amount  to  over  eighty  in  number. 
A  list  to  the  year  1873  is  printed  in  the  "Cyclopedia  of  American  Literature." 
Dartmouth  College,  as  a  testimonial  to  his  services  in  science  and  literature,  con- 
ferred upon  him,  in  the  year  1877,  the  degree  of  Doctor  fif  Philosophy. 

The  Hon.  Paul  A.  Chadbourne,  LL.  D.,  late  president  of  Williams  College,  in 
a  recent  memoir  of  Mr.  Wilder  remarks  :  "  The  interest  which  Col.  AVilder  has 
always  manifested  in  the  progress  of  education,  as  well  as  the  value  and  felicitous 
style  of  his  numerous  writings,  would  lead  one  to  infer  at  once  that  his  varied 
knowledge  and  culture  are  the  results  of  college  education.  But  he  is  only  an- 
other illustrious  example  of  the  men  who,  with  only  small  indebtedness  to  schools, 
have  proved  to  the  world  that  real  men  can  make  themselves  known  as  such  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  college,  as  we  have  abundantly  learned  that  the  college  can 
never  make  a  man  of  one  who  has  not  in  him  the"  elements  of  noble  manhood 
before  he  enters  its  halls." 

In  1820,  Mr.  Wilder  married  Miss  Tryphosa  Jewett,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Stephen  Jewett,  of  Rindge,  a  lady  of  great  personal  attractions.  She  died  on  a 
visit  to  that  town,  July  21,  1831,  leaving  four  children.  On  the  29th  of  August, 
1833,  Mr.  Wilder  was  united  to  Miss  Abigail,  daughter  of  Capt.  David  Baker, 
of  Franklin,  Mass.,  a  lady  of  education,  accomplishments,  and  piety,  who  died  of 
consumption  April  4,  1854,  leaving  five  children.  He  was  married  a  third  time 
on  the  8th  of  September,  1855,  to  her  sister.  Miss  Julia  Baker,  who  was  admir- 
ably' ((vialified  to  console  him  and  make  his  dwelling  cheerful,  and  who  has  two 
sons,  both  living.  No  man  has  been  more  blessed  in  domestic  life.  We  know 
not  where  there  would  be  a  more  pleasing  picture  of  peace  and  contentment  ex- 
hibited than  is  found  in  this  happy  family.  In  all  his  pursuits  and  avocations, 
Mr.  Wilder  seems  to  have  realized  and  practiced  that  grand  principle  which  has 
such  a  bearing  and  influence  on  the  whole  course  of  life, — the  philosophy  of 
habit,  a  power  almost  omnipotent  for  good  or  evil.  His  leisure  hours  he  devotes 
to  his  pen,  which  already  has  filled  several  large  volumes  with  descriptions  and 
delineations  of  fruits  and  flowers  proved  under  his  own  inspection. 

The  life  of  Col.  Wilder  is  a  striking  instance  of  what  an  individual  may 
accomplish  by  industry,  indomitable  perseverance,  and  the  concentration  of  the 
intellectual  powers  on  grand  objects.  Without  these,  no  talent,  no  mere  good  fort- 
une could  have  placed  him  in  the  high  position  he  has  attained  as  a  public  bene- 
factor. He  has  been  pre-eminent  in  the  establishment  and  development  of  insti- 
tutions. Few  gentlemen  have  been  called  upon  so  often,  and  upon  such  various 
occasions,  to  take  the  chair  at  public  meetings  or  preside  over  constituted  societies. 
Few  have  acquitted  themselves  so  happily,  whether  dignity  of  presence,  amenity 
of  address,  fluency  of  speech,  or  dispatch  of  business  be  taken  into  consideration. 
As  a  presiding  ofiicer  he  seems  "  to  the  manner  born."  His  personal  influence 
has  been  able  to  magnetize  a  half-dying  body  into  new  and  active  life.  This 
strong  personal  characteristic  is  especially  remarked  among  his  friends.  No  one 
can  approach  him  in  doubt,  in  despondency,  or  in  embarrassment,  and  leave  him 
without  a  higher  hope,  a  stronger  courage  and  a  manlier  faith  in  himself.  The 
energy  which  has  impelled  him  to  labor  still  exists. 

In  closing  this  sketch,  we  may  remark  that  a  complimentary  banquet  was 
given  him,  September  22,  1878,  on  the  eightieth  anniversary  of  his  birth.  On 
this    occasion   the   Rev.  James   H.  Means,  D.  D.,  his  pastor  for  nearly  thirty 


30  MARSHALL    P.    WILDER,    PH.  D. 

years,  the  Hon.  Charles  L.  Flint,  secretary  of  the  board  of  agriculture,  the 
Hon.  John  Phelps  Putnam,  judge  of  the  Massachusetts  superior  court,  and 
others  paid  tributes  to  the  high  moral  character,  the  benevolent  disposition,  and 
the  eminent  services  of  the  honored  guest  of  the  evening. 

Judge  Putnam  closed  as  follows:  "Our  dear  old  friend,  we  greet  you.  On 
this  auspicious  occasion  we  wish  you  many  returns  of  your  natal  day.  Serus 
in  caelum  redeas,  —  late  may  you  return  to  the  heavens.  And  when  that  day 
comes,  on  which,  in  the  onward  march  of  life  you  shall  fall  by  the  way-side,  may 
you  fall  as  falls  the  golden  fruit  in, this  autumn  time, — 

'  Sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.' "' 


m^ 


^^^^.J^^^ 


HON.  JOHN  M.  PARKER. 


BY    WM.    H.    STINSON. 


Among  the  many  worthy  sons  of  the  old  Grranite  State  who  by  their  busi- 
ness enterprise,  executive  ability,  and  genial  manners  have  won  a  position  on 
her  honored  roll,  appears  the  name  of  John  McGaw  Parker,  who  was  born  in 
GofFstown,  September  17,  1824,  the  eldest  son  of  William  Parker  by  his  second 
marriage,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  town.  His  mother.  Hannah  Adams, 
of  Derry,  was  a  most  estimable  lady,  whose  christian  influence  over  her  family 
of  three  children  was  most  enobling.  She  was  a  descendant  from  that  honored 
and  illustrious  family  whose  representatives  were  called  to  the  executive  head  of 
our  nation.  She  died  February  26,  1869,  having  reached  the  age  of  four  score 
years.  We  trace  the  ancestry  of  his  father  to  Josiah  Parker,  who  came  from 
England  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  prior  to  1700.  His  son.  Rev.  Thomas  Parker, 
was  the  first  settled  pastor  at  Dracut,  Mass.,  where  he  died  in  1765.  A  son  of 
his  settled  in  Litchfield,  this  state,  from  whose  family  sprung  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch. 

During  his  early  youth,  young  Parker  received  such  traiuiug  and  advantages 
as  were  ofi'ered  by  the  district  school,  united  with  the  best  of  home  influences. 
At  the  age  of  eleven  years  he  was  placed  in  the  academy  at  Hopkinton,  by 
his  father,  who  was  desirous  of  giving  his  son  the  benefit  of  a  business  edu- 
cation ;  the  following  year  he  entered  old  Derry  academy  at  Derry,  where  his 
education  was  completed. 

Displaying  much  aptitude  for  business,  his  father,  who  was  engaged  in  the 
lumbering  and  the  mercantile  trade,  as  well  as  farming,  placed  him  in  his  store  as 
clerk ;  the  succeeding  year  he  was  clerk  in  a  store  at  Concord,  but  the  next  year, 
1839,  he  returned  to  his  home,  taking  charge  of  the  business  of  his  father,  who 
was  in  failing  health,  and  who  died  on  the  9th  of  August  following,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-four  years. 

His  father's  death  necessitated  changes  in  home  aff"airs,  and  in  March,  1840, 
he  entered  the  store  of  William  Whittle,  at  Goffstown,  where  he  remained  until 
twenty-one  years  of  age ;  he  then  returned  once  more  to  his  home  and  went  into 
the  mercantile  trade  at  his  father's  old  stand.  This  was  in  1843;  he  continued  the 
same  until  1847,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his  younger  brother,  David 
A.,  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  M.  &  D.  A.  Parker,  which  union  continues  at  the 
present  time.  In  addition  to  the  mercantile  and  agricultural  interests,  they  have 
engaged  extensively  in  the  wood  and  lumber  business,  and  as  the  "  lumber  kings" 
in  their  section  of  the  state  their  business  has  grown  and  developed  into  one 
of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude,  requiring  the  investment  of  a  large  capital  which 
has  accumulated  through  their  indomitable  energy  and  business  sagacity,  backed 
by  a  judgment  of  such  soundness  as  years  of  experience  can  but  give.  The 
building  of  the  N.  H.  Central  llailroad,  now  the  Manchester  &  North  Weare 
road,  chartered  in  1848,  added  greatly  to  their  business  facilities  for  the  trans- 
portation of  their  wood,  bark,  and  lumber,  which  enterprise  received  their 
earnest  encouragement. 


32  HOl^.    JOHK    M.    PARKEK. 

On  the  Both  of  November,  1854,  he  married  Letitia  C,  second  daughter  of 
the  late  Capt.  Charles  Stinson,  of  Dunbarton,  who  was  born  March  9,  1835. 
Their  married  life  has  been  a  truly  happy  one,  and  such  a  kindly  home  as  all 
members  of  the  household  will  ever  revert  to  with  the  fondest  of  recollections. 
They  have  three  children:  Charles  Stinson,  born  November  3,  1855;  Henry 
Woodman,  born  February  26,  1859 ;  Frank  Adams,  born  June  1,  1866.  The 
two  former,  Charles  and  Henry,  inheriting  their  father's  traits  of  character  for 
business,  are  merchants  at  Gofistown  village,  while  Frank  is  pursuing  his  studies 
at  Gilmanton  Academy. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  Mr.  Parker  has  ever  been  a 
zealous  advocate  of  its  principles,  and  his  abilities  have  been  recognized  most 
honorably  by  his  political  party  in  their  public  preferments.  In  1855  he  was 
elected  a  commissioner  for  his  county,  and  re-elected  in  1856  ;  and  a  member  of 
the  state  senate  in  1858  and  1859.  Among  his  associates  in  this  body  were 
Hon.  Walter  Harriman,  Hon.  John  G.  Sinclair,  Hon.  Austin  F.  Pike,  and  Hon. 
John  D.  Lyman.  He  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature  in  1869.  In  1876, 
without  consultation  and  greatly  to  his  surprise,  he  was  selected  as  the  nominee, 
by  his  party,  for  councilor  from  his  district,  and  owing,  to  his  popvilarity  re- 
ceived a  majority  of  the  suftrages  at  the  election  following,  in  the  face  of  a 
Democratic  majority  of  six  hundred  in  the  district  the  year  previous  ;  and  was  re- 
elected in  1877.  At  the  institution  of  the  state  board  of  equalization,  in  1879, 
he  was  commissioned  by  the  court  as  one  of  the  five  members ;  re-appointed  in 
1881,  and  selected  as  president  of  the  board. 

AVhen  the  Guaranty  Savings  Bank  of  Manchester  was  organized,  in  1879,  he 
was  elected  its  president,  a  position  still  retained ;  and  is  also  a  member  of  t^e 
board  of  directors  of  the  Merchants  National  Bank  of  the  same  city. 

Mr.  Parker  filled  the  position  of  postmaster  at  the  Goffstown  ofilce  during  a 
period  of  fovir  years ;  and  he  has  a  wide  reputation  in  all  the  surrounding  towns 
as  one  of  the  most  successful  auctioneers,  where  his  services  are  ever  in  demand. 
Being  possessed  of  a  judicious  and  candid  mind,  he  is  often  called  to  act  in  the 
capacity  of  referee,  where  his  mature  judgment  has  assisted  in  the  friendly  adjust- 
ment of  disputed  and  antagonistic  questions  which  threatened  the  peace  and 
harmony  of  families,  neighborhoods,  and  towns. 

His  business  prosperity  enables  him  to  exercise  a  liberal  spirit  towards  objects 
and  institutions  that  tend  towards  worthy  ends ;  and  he  is  certainly  one  of  the 
most  industrious  of  men,  whether  attending  to  the  demands  of  the  farm,  the 
store,  the  lumber  interests,  selling  of  estates,  or  to  the  almost  countless  calls  from 
his  public  and  minor  private  duties  that  come  crowding  to  his  immediate  notice. 
In  all  matters  of  a  public  nature  he  has  ever  taken  an  active  interest,  especially 
in  the  growth  of  enterprise  in  his  native  town. 

Mr.  Parker's  love  for  social  life  allows  the  years  to  sit  lightly.  Of  a  happy, 
open  disposition,  ever  approachable,  at  his  delightful  residence  at  Parker's 
station,  Goffstown,  presided  over  by  his  amiable  and  generous-hearted  wife,  a 
cordial  welcome  is  assured  all  who  enter  his  hospitable  doors. 


Mptd^tr- 


HON.  CHARLES  H.  BARTLEIT. 


Charles  Henry  Bartlett  was  born  in  Sunapee,  N.  H.,  October  15, 1833. 
He  is  tlie  fourth  son  of  John  and  Sarah  J.  (Sanborn)  Bartlett,  and  is  a  lineal 
descendant,  in  the  eighth  generation,  of  Richard  Bartlett,  who  came  from  England 
to  Newbury,  Mass.,  in  the  ship  "  Mary  and  John,"  in  1634. 

The  original  orthography  of  the  name  was  Barttelot,  which  is  still  preserved 
by  the  family  in  England,  whose  ancestral  home  in  Stopham,  Sussex  county, 
has  remained  in  possession  of  the  family  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  the 
present  occupant,  Hon.  Walter  B.  Barttelot,  is  the  member  of  parliament  from 
that  county. 

In  the  same  ancestral  line  is  found  the  name  of  Hon.  Josiah  Bartlett,  who, 
as  a  delegate  in  the  continental  congress  from  New  Hampshire,  was  the  first 
man  to  vote  "yea"  on  the  passage  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  July  4, 
1776,  and  the  second  to  affix  his  signature  thereto.  All  the  Bartletts  whose 
names  appear  in  tlu!  annals  of  our  state  trace  their  lineage  to  the  same  ancestry. 

Mr.  Bartlett  has  four  brothers,  —  Joseph  S.,  who  resides  in  Claremont,  and 
Solomon,  John  Z.  and  George  H.,  who  reside  in  Sunapee  ;  and  two  sisters, —  Mrs. 
Thomas  P.  Smith  and  Mrs.  John  Felch.  His  parents  are  still  living,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-two  years,  in  the  enjoyment  of  an  ample  competency,  the 
fruits  of  a  long  life  of  earnest  and  cheerful  labor,  and  the  practice  of  a  stern, 
self-denying  economy,  the  characteristic  of  the  best  type  of  our  New  England 
husbandry. 

Mr.  Bartlett's  early  life  was  mainly  spent  upon  his  father's  farm,  laboring 
through  the  summer  season  and  attending  school  during  the  winter.  He  early 
developed  a  decided  taste  for  literary  pursuits,  and  from  childhood  devoted  a  lib- 
eral share  of  his  leisure  moments  to  the  perusal  of  such  books  as  were  accessible 
to  him.  He  also  contributed  liberally  to  the  current  literatiire  of  the  day,  and 
showed  remarkable  facility  in  both  prose  and  poetic  composition.  He  received 
his  academic  education  at  the  academies  at  Washington  and  New  London,  after 
which  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Metcalf  &  Barton  at 
Newport.  He  studied  subsequently  with  Greorge  &  Foster  at  Concord,  and  with 
Morrison  &  Stanley  at  Manchester,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Hillsborough 
county,  from  the  office  of  the  latter,  in  1858.  In  that  year  he  began  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  at  Wentworth,  N.  H.,  and  in  1863  removed  to  Manchester, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  For  some  two  years  he  was  law  partner  with  the  late 
Hon.  James  U.  Parker,  the  partnership  terminating  with  the  retirement  of  the 
latter  from  active  business.  In  June,  1867,  he  was  appointed,  by  Judge  Clark, 
clerk  of  the  United  States  district  court  for  the  New  Hampshire  district,  since 
which  time  he  has  not  actively  practiced  his  profession,  but  has  devoted  himself 
to  the  duties  of  his  office,  which  became  very  onerous  and  responsible  upon  the 
pjissage  of  the  bankru{)t  law,  about  the  time  of  his  appointment.  The  holding 
of  this  office  under  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  disqualified  him 
from  accepting  any  office  under  the  state  government.  He  was  clerk  of  the  New 
Hampshire  senate  from  1861  to  1865,  Gov.  Smyth's  private  secretary  in  1865 


34  HON.    CHAKLES   H.    BARTLETT. 

and  1866,  treasurer  of  the  state  reform  school  in  1866  and  1867.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  unanimously  chosen  city  solicitor,  but  declined  a  re-election,  owing 
to  his  appointment  as  clerk  of  the  district  court.  In  1872  he  was  elected,  as  the 
nominee  of  the  Republican  party,  mayor  of  the  city,  and  served  till  February  18, 
1873,  when  he  resigned  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  national  govern- 
ment at  that  time,  which  forbade  United  States  officials  from  holding  state  or 
municipal  offices.  His  cheerful  co-operation  with  the  administration  in  this  mat- 
ter, though  at  the  sacrifice  of  a  most  conspicuous  public  position,  was  handsomely 
recognized  by  President  Grant,  through  Attorney-Greneral  Williams.  His  last  offi- 
cial act  as  mayor  was  to  order  the  city  treasurer  to  pay  the  amount  due  him  for 
salary  to  the  Firemen's  Relief  Association.  Mr.  Bartlett  has  been  a  trustee  of 
the  Merrimack  River  Savings  Bank  from  1865  to  the  present  time,  and  a  trustee 
of  the  People's  Savings  Bank  from  its  organization  in  1874.  He  is  also  a  director 
in  the  Merchants  National  Bank.  He  was  the  master  of  Washington  Lodge  of 
Freemasons  from  April,  1872,  to  April,  1874,  and  now  holds  the  position  of 
United  States  commissioner,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1872.  The  only  posi- 
tions of  trust  he  has  held  since  his  appointment  as  clerk  of  the  United  States 
court,  are  as  a  member  of  the  last  constitutional  convention,  and  chairman  of  the 
commission  appointed  by  the  governor  and  council  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Insane  Asylum. 

Mr.  Bartlett  married,  December  8,  1858,  at  Sunapee,  Miss  Hannah  M.  East- 
man, of  Croydon,  N.  H.,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  Charles  Leslie,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  four  years,  and  one  daughter,  Carrie  Bell,  a  member  of  the  Manches- 
ter high  school. 

Clarke's  "  History  of  Manchester,"  from  which  the  foregoing  facts  are  gath- 
ered, closes  its  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Bartlett  as  follows  :  "  Mr.  Bartlett  has 
a  keen,  well  balanced  mind,  whose  faculties  are  always  at  his  command.  He  thinks 
readily,  but  acts  cautiously,  and  seldom  makes  a  mistake.  Hence  he  has  been 
financially  successful  in  almost  everything  he  has  undertaken.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  j)ractical  lawyers  in  the  State,  and  was  for  several  years  in  charge  of  the 
law  department  of  the  Mirror,  giving  general  satisfaction,  and  his  withdrawal, 
when  his  business  compelled  it,  was  a  source  of  much  regret  to  the  readers  of 
that  paper." 

In  1881,  Dartmouth  College  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts. 


HON.  MOODY  CURRIER.  LL.  D. 


Forty  years  ago,  when  Manchester,  now  the  metropolis  of  New  Hampshire, 
was  little  more  than  a  wasting  waterfall  and  an  unpeopled  plain,  a  few  young  men 
who  had  the  sagacity  to  see,  the  courage  to  grapple  with,  and  the  strength  to 
control  the  possibilities  of  the  location,  made  it  their  home.  One  of  these  was 
Moody  Currier,  who  was  then  seeking  for  a  spot  in  which  a  willing  hand  and 
a  busy  brain  could  carve  out  a  successful  career.  His  boyhood  had  been  spent 
upon  a  farm,  where  he  supported  himself  by  work  during  the  day,  and  gratified 
his  desire  for  knowledge  by  studying  by  the  light  of  pitch-knots  in  the  evening. 
In  this  manner  he  fitted  himself  to  enter  Hopkinton  Academy,  and  by  similar 
methods  worked  his  way  into  and  through  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  gradu- 
ated with  high  honors  in  1834.  During  his  collegiate  course  he  earned  enough 
by  teaching  and  other  work  in  the  vacations  to  pay  his  expenses,  but  his  gradu- 
ation found  him  without  funds,  and,  as  the  readiest  way  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
his  fortune,  he  taught  school  at  Concord  one  term  and  the  Hopkinton  Academy 
one  year,  and  then  accepted  an  invitation  to  take  charge  of  the  high  school  at 
Lowell,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  1841.  Meantime  he  had  read  law,  and 
in  the  spring  of  that  year  came  to  Manchester,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  George  W.  Morrison  for  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  which  continued  for  two  years,  when  it  was  dissolved,  and  he  pur- 
sued his  business  independently  until  1848.  During  this  time  he  had  acquired  a 
large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  while  attending  to  the  interests  of  his  clients  had 
established  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  safest  and  most  sagacious  financiers  in  the 
young  city,  which  led  the  founders  of  the  Amoskeag  bank,  when  that  institution 
was  organized,  to  elect  him  its  cashier.  He  accepted  the  position,  and  from  that 
time  has  been  prominently  identified  with  many  of  the  largest  and  most  success- 
ful moneyed  corporations  in  the  city  and  state.  He  was  cashier  of  the  Amoskeag 
bank  until  it  was  re-organized  as  a  national  bank,  when  he  was  elected  its  president, 
which  position  he  still  occupies.  He  has  been  treasurer  of  the  Amoskeag  Savings 
Bank  since  its  foundation,  in  1852,  a  director  of  the  People's  Savings  Bank  and 
of  the  Manchester  IMills  since  their  organization.  He  was  a  director  of  the 
Blodget  Edge  Tool  Company,  and  a  director  and  treasurer  of  the  Amoskeag 
Axe  Company,  during  the  existence  of  those  corporations.  He  was  treasurer  of 
the  Concord  Railroad  in  1871  and  1872;  has  been  treasurer  of  the  Concord  & 
Portsmouth  Railroad  since  1856,  president  of  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  New 
Hampshire  since  1877,  treasurer  of  the  New  England  Loan  Company  since  1874, 
and  a  director  of  the  Manchester  Gas-Light  Company  since  18G2  ;  and  has  held 
many  other  places  of  responsibility,  —  in  all  of  which  his  prudence,  foresight,  and 
good  judgment  have  grasped  the  opportunities  which  have  eluded  so  many, 
avoided  the  whirlpools  in  which  so  many  have  been  ingulfed,  and  secured  for 
stockholders  and  depositors  regular  and  satisfactory  dividends. 

While  thus  adding  to  the  fortunes  of  others,  he  has  not  been  unmindful  of 
his  own,  and  is  one  of  the  wealthy  men  of  the  state,  able  to  command  whatever 
money  will  buy,  and  to  give   liberally  to  any  cause  that  commends  itself  to  his 


36  HON^.    MOODY   CURRIEK,    LL.  D. 

judgment.  But  while  it  has  been  the  business  of  Mr.  Currier  to  manage  vast 
moneyed  concerns,  the  demands  of  his  caUing  have  not  been  permitted  to  choke 
out  his  love  of  books  and  study.  The  literary  tastes,  and  habits  of  close  and 
tireless  application,  which  inspired  the  boy  to  struggle  for  and  obtain  a  liberal 
education,  survive  in  the  man,  and  have  made  him  a  persistent  student  until  he 
is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars  in  the  state. 

While  a  teacher  at  Concord,  he  edited  a  literary  journal  in  that  city,  and  after 
coming  to  Manchester  published  and  edited,  for  several  years,  a  weekly  newspaper. 
Since  he  became  a  banker  he  has  spent  much  of  his  leisure  in  his  well  filled 
library,  finding  his  recreation  in  adding  to  his  knowledge  of  the  classics,  master- 
ing the  problems  of  exact  science,  and  exploring  the  fields  of  helles-lettres.  He 
has  written,  for  his  own  amusement,  many  poems  of  much  merit,  a  volume  of 
which  was  published  for  circulation  among  his  friends  in  1879,  and  he  is  a  master 
of  the  art  of  expression  in  terse  and  polished  prose.  His  scholarly  attainments 
were  recognized  by  Bates  College  in  1880,  which  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  LL.D. 

As  a  citizen,  Mr.  Currier  occupies  a  high  place  in  the  city  with  whose  mate- 
rial growth  he  has  been  so  largely  identified.  He  is  an  earnest  advocate  of  what- 
ever tends  to  her  advancement,  a  judicious  counselor,  and  a  liberal  giver.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  her  city  library,  to  which  he  has  made  large  dona^ 
tions,  that,  with  one  of  her  public  fountains,  attest  alike  his  generosity  and  his 
judgment;  and  there  have  been  few  projects  for  her  improvement  which  have 
not  found  in  him  a  strong  and  ready  helper. 

Prior  to  1852  he  acted  with  the  Democratic  party,  which  elected  him  clerk  of 
the  state  senate  in  1843, 1844,  but  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  enlisted  him 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Free-soil  forces,  and  from  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party  he  has  been  one  of  its  most  earnest  and  effective  supporters.  In  1856  and 
1857  he  was  a  member  of  the  senate,  being  its  president  the  latter  year;  and  in 
18(i(l  and  1801,  was  a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  and  chairman  of  the 
committee  for  raising  and  equipping  the  troops  necessary  to  fill  the  state's  quota 
in  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  In  this  position  his  business  ability  and  methods 
were  of  great  service,  and  to  him,  at  least  as  much  as  to  any  other  one  man,  is 
due  the  creditable  reputation  which  the  state  won  in  that  trying  period. 

In  187()  he  was  one  of  the  presidential  electors  who  cast  the  vote  of  New 
Ham])shire  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler,  and  in  1879,  had  he  permitted  his  friends  to 
use  his  name,  would  have  been  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  governorship  in 
the  state  convention  that  year,  as  he  was  in  the  primary  meetings. 

Mr.  Currier  has  been  married  three  times.  He  has  no  children  living.  He 
resides  in  an  elegant  home  in  Manchester,  in  which  are  reflected  his  cultivated 
tastes  and  ample  fortune.  Though  able  to  look  back  upon  a  long  career,  he  is  in 
the  enjoyment  of  excellent  health  and  the  full  strength  of  his  manhood,  and 
while  carrying  the  business  burdens  that  would  crush  most  men,  finds  leisure  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  industry,  frugality,  and  judgment. 


"^W-**"**-** 


r?-r^<im. 


HON.  AMASA  NORCROSS. 


Amasa  Norcross,  a.  M.,  of  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  was  born  in  Rindge,  N.  H., 
January  26,  1824.  His  father,  Daniel  Norcross,  was  a  farmer  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  was  the  grandson  of  Jeremiah  Norcross,  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  the 
family,  who  arrived  in  this  country  in  the  year  1642,  and  settled  at  Watertown, 
Mass.  Daniel  Norcross  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  a  large  landholder,  and 
the  incumbent  of  many  offices  of  honor  and  trust.  His  wife,  nee  Mary  Jones, 
was  also  a  native  of  New  Hampshire. 

Amasa  Norcross  received  an  excellent  academic  education,  first  in  the  academy 
of  his  native  town,  and  subsequently  in  a  similar  institution  at  New  Ipswich, 
N.  H.  Selecting  the  profession  of  law  for  the  life  exercise  of  his  talents  and 
energies,  in  1844  he  became  a  student  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Wood 
of  Fitchburg,  and  in  1847  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Since  that  time  he  has 
pursued  his  professional  labors  in  the  city  where  he  now  resides.  He  is  to-day 
the  senior  member  of  the  Fitchburg  bar,  and  for  many  years  he  has  been  a 
recognized  leader  of  the  legal  fraternity  in  that  section  of  the  state. 

In  1858,  1859,  and  1862,  Mr.  Norcross  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
ho^ise  of  representatives,  having  been  elected  thereto  on  the  Republican  ticket. 
In  1858  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  of  probate  and  chancery,  of  which 
Governor  Andrew,  then  a  member  of  the  house,  was  chairman  ;  and  in  1859  and 
1862  he  was  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee.  In  August  of  the  last- 
named  year,  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Lincoln,  United  States  assessor  for 
the  ninth  congressional  district  of  Massachvisetts.  The  district  was  large,  com- 
prising seventy-two  townships.  He  filled  the  office  with  signal  ability  and  satis- 
faction for  ten  years,  and  until  the  office  of  assessor  was  abolished  by  act  of 
congress.  In  1862  the  authorities  of  Dartmouth  College  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

In  the  session  of  1859,  Mr.  Norcross  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  joint 
committee  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  to  examine  and  amend 
the  report  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  codify  the  laws  of  the  state.  He 
gave  to  this  work  his  entire  attention  for  several  months,  when  report  was  made 
by  the  committee  to  the  adjourned  session  of  the  legislature,  held  in  the  autumn 
of  that  year.  Upon  this  committee  were  several  distinguished  lawyers,  among 
whom  were  Glen.  Caleb  Cushing  and  Gren.  Benjamin  F.  Butler.  In  1874  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  senate  and  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee 
of  that  body.  He  was  also  chairm;\n  of  the  committee  on  federal  relations.  To 
him  was  assigned  the  honor  of  drafting  the  report  which  recommended  rescinding 
the  resolutions  of  censure  upon  Charles  Sumner  which  had  been  passed  by  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts.  Previous  effiirts  to  relieve  that  distinguished  states- 
man from  that  burden  had  failed ;  this  succeeded.  The  rescinding  resolutions 
reached  Senator  Sumner  at  Washington  a  few  days  before  his  death,  and  doubt- 
less contributed  materially  to  soothe  his  last  hours. 

In  the  fall  of  1876,  Mr.  Norcross  was  elected  representative  to  congress  on 
the  Republican   ticket,  over  his   ])olitical    opponent,   S.  0.  Lamb   of  Greenfield. 


38  HON.    AMASA  N^ORCROSS. 

In  1878  he  was  elected  a  second  time,  over  the  candidates  of  two  political  par- 
ties. He  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Republican  party  since  its  organi- 
zation, and  is  now  serving  his  third  term  in  congress,  having  been  again  re-elected 
in  1880.  In  the  several  conventions  resulting  in  his  nomination  and  election,  he 
was  always  supported  by  the  better  elements  in  his  party. 

Local  affairs  have  always  received  a  proportionate  share  of  Mr.  Norcross's 
attention.  On  the  organization  of  the  city  government  of  Fitchburg,  in  1873, 
he  received  the  honor  of  first  election  to  the  mayoralty  of  the  new  city.  He  was 
re-elected  the  following  year.  In  the  administration  of  its  affairs  his  executive 
ability  was  marked.  Necessary  public  improvements  were  effected,  and  all  bear 
tokens  of  his  excellent  judgment  and  skill.  With  financial  and  other  public 
organizations  he  has  been,  for  many  years,  prominently  identified.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Rollstone  National  Bank  of  Fitchburg,  in  the  Worcester  North 
Savings  Institution,  and  in  the  Fitchburg  Fire  Insurance  Company. 

The  interest  of  Mr.  Norcross  in  benevolent  and  educational  institutions  has 
been  deep  and  constant,  and  he  has  done  much  for  their  advancement.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  organizing  the  Fitchburg  Benevolent  Union,  was  its  first  presi- 
dent, and  he  is  now  one  of  its  life  members.  For  fifteen  years  he  has  been  a 
trustee  of  the  Lawrence  Academy  at  Grroton,  Mass.  By  act  of  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts  he  was  made  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  corporation 
known  as  the  Gushing  Academy,  located  at  Ashburnham,  and  by  the  same  act 
was  designated  as  the  member  authorized  to  call  the  first  meeting  of  the  trustees, 
of  which  board  he  is  still  a  member.  He  has  contributed  largely  to  the  organiz- 
ing and  building  up  of  this  now  flourishing  academy.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  the  labors  of  Mr.  Norcross  connected  with  his  large  legal  practice  have  been 
arduous  and  continuous. 

In  June,  1852,  he  was  married  to  S.  Augusta,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and 
Rebecca  Wallis,  of  Ashby,  Mass.     She  died  March  4,  1869. 


^Tr--^^' 


/'-- 


^^J, 


HON.  GEORGE  ALFRED  PILLSBURY. 


BY   PRANK    H.    CARLETON. 


New  Hampshire  is  a  small  state,  yet  her  sons  and  daughters  are  scattered 
far  and  wide.  They  have  not  only  built  up  a  prosperous  and  influential  common- 
wealth at  home,  furnishing  a  talent  and  genius  too  great  to  be  circumscribed  by 
territorial  lines,  but  they  have  greatly  aided  in  laying  the  foundations  and  build- 
ing up  the  newer  sections  of  our  country.  Let  any  person  pass  through  the 
mighty  West,  and  thence  to  the  great  Northwest  which  to-day  is  doing  vastly 
more  than  any  section  to  supply  the  world  with  bread,  and  he  will  be  surprised 
to  find  the  great  number  of  sons  of  New  Hampshire  who  have  attained  reputa- 
tion, position,  and  influence.  In  the  highest  ranks  of  commerce,  at  the  bar,  and 
from  the  pulpit,  they  wield  a  great  influence.  Their  names  are  too  numerous  to 
be  enumerated,  yet  it  is  to  but  few  that  the  distinction  is  given  of  being  distin- 
guished in  two  states,  and  these  as  far  apart  as  Minnesota  and  New  Hampshire. 
To  this  small  but  honored  class  belongs  the  subject  of  this  brief  sketch,  George 
Alfred  Pillsbury,  one  of  a  family  whose  name  suggests  high  qixalities. 

The  family  history  has  been  traced  as  far  back  as  Joshua  Pillsbury,  who 
settled  a  grant  of  land  at  what  is  now  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  the  year  1640,  —  a 
grant  which  for  over  two  hundred  and  forty  years  has  been  in  the  possession  of 
the  Pillsbury  family.  Following  him,  next  came  in  the  line  of  descent  Caleb 
Pillsbury,  who  was  born  January  26,"  1717,  for  several  years  and  at  the  time  of 
his  decease  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  provincial  legislature.  Caleb  Pills- 
bury left  a  son  Micajah,  who  was  born  in  Amesbury,  Mass.,  May  22,  1768.  and 
married  Sarah  Sargent.  The  result  of  this  union  was  four  daughters,  and  four 
sons  —  Stephen,  Joseph,  John,  and  Moses.  With  this  family  Micajah  Pillsbury 
removed  to  Sutton,  N.  H.,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  in  1802,  occupying 
various  positions  of  town  trust.  His  wife  survived  him  several  years.  Of  these 
sons,  Stephen  Pillsbury  was  a  Baptist  clergyman,  who  died  in  Londonderry.  The 
other  brothers,  including  John  Pillsbury,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
were  all  magistrates  of  the  town  of  Sutton.  The  youngest  sister  married  Nathan 
Andrews,  a  gentleman  well  known  in  the  annals  of  Sutton. 

John  Pillsbury  was  born  in  1789.  He  was  prominent  in  the  town  afliiirs  of 
Sutton,  being  a  selectman  for  several  years,  and  representing  the  town  in  the 
state  legislature.  He  was  also  a  captain  in  the  militia  in  those  days  of  the  fife 
and  drum,  when  a  commission  had  a  significance.  On  April  2,  1811,  he  married 
Susan  Wadleigh,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Wadleigh,  a  settler  in  Sutton  in  1771. 
Benjamin  Wadleigh  was  a  descendant  of  Robert  Wadleigh  of  Exeter,  a  member 
of  the  provincial  legislature  of  Massachusetts.  On  the  maternal  side  the  ancestry 
was  good.  The  maternal  grandmother  was  the  daughter  of  P]bcnezer  Kezar, 
who,  it  is  related,  concealed  the  girl  whom  he  afterwards  married,  under  a  pile  of 
boards,  at  the  time  Mrs.  Puston  was  captured,  in  1697.  He  was  identified  with 
the  early  history  of  Sutton  in  many  ways. 


40  HON.    GEORGE    ALERED   PILLSBURY. 

As  we  have  said,  John  and  Susan  Pillsbury  were  the  father  and  mother  of  the 
subject  of  these  lines.  They  were  a  hardy,  vigorous,  and  exemplary  parent  stock. 
To  them  were  born  five  children,  to  wit :  Simon  Wadleigh  Pillsbury,  born  June 
22,  1812;  George  Alfred,  August  29,  1816;  Dolly  W.,  September  6,  1818; 
John  Sargent,  July  29,  1827;  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  March  29,  1831.  All 
of  the  children  received  the  common-school  education  of  those  days ;  but  Simon 
W.,  whose  natural  fondness  for  study  distinguished  him  as  a  young  man,  gave 
his  attention  to  special  branches  of  study,  particularly  mathematics,  in  which  he 
became  known  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  state.  He  delivered  the  first  public 
lecture  in  Sutton  on  the  subject  of  temperance.  But  too  much  study  wore  down 
his  health,  and  he  died  in  1836,  cutting  short  a  promising  future. 

Of  the  other  brothers,  John  Sargent  is  too  well  known  to  need  mention.  When 
a  boy  of  sixteen  he  became  a  clerk  for  his  brother,  George  Alfred,  at  Warner, 
N.  H.  In  1848  he  formed  a  business  partnership  with  Walter  Harriman  in 
Warner,  neither  of  these  two  men  in  those  days  dreaming  that  in  the  future  one 
would  be  the  governor  of  a  state  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  the  other  of  one 
on  the  banks  of  the  great  Mississippi.  In  1854  John  S.  settled  in  Minnesota, 
at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  around  which  has  grown  up  the  beautiful  city  of 
Minneapolis,  with  a  population  of  sixty  thousand.  He  shortly  entered  into  the 
hardware  trade,  in  which  he  built  up  the  largest  business  in  the  state,  acquiring 
a  fortune,  serving  for  a  dozen  years  or  more  as  state  senator,  and  finally  being 
elected  governor  for  three  successive  terms  of  two  years  each,  being  the  only  gov- 
ernor of  Minnesota  accorded  a  third  term.  His  entire  administration,  which 
ceased  in  January,  1882,  was  a  remarkable  one,  characterized  by  many  acts  of 
wisdom,  chief  among  which  was  the  adjustment  of  the  dishonored  state  bonds 
issued  at  an  early  day  for  railroad  purposes. 

The  remaining  brother,  Benjamin  F.  Pillsbury,  remained  in  Sutton  until 
1878,  where  he  filled  many  places  of  trust,  being  elected  selectman,  treasurer,  and 
state  representative.  In  1878  he  removed  to  Granite  Falls  in  western  Minne- 
sota, where  he  is  extensively  engaged  in  the  real  estate,  grain,  and  lumber  busi- 
ness, and  is  reckoned  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  his  section. 

But  we  have  been  drawn  somewhat  from  the  subject  of  this  article.  As 
we  have  stated,  George  Alfred  Pillsbury  was  born  in  Sutton,  N.  H.,  August  29, 
1816.  He  received  a  thorough  common-school  education  in  the  rudimentary 
branches.  Of  a  very  quick  and  active  temperament,  he  very  early  in  life  had  a 
strong  determination  to  enter  business  for  himself.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he 
became  a  clerk  to  a  Boston  merchant.  After  a  year's  experience  there,  he  re- 
turned to  Sutton  and  entered  into  the  manufacture  of  stoves  and  sheet-iron  ware, 
in  company  with  a  cousin,  John  C.  Pillsbury.  He  continued  in  this  business 
until  February,  1840,  when  he  went  to  Warner  into  the  store  of  John  H.  Pear- 
son, where  he  n^mained  until  the  following  July,  when  he  purchased  the  business 
on  his  own  account,  and  continued  in  it  for  some  eight  years.  In  the  spring  of 
1848  he  entered  into  a  wholesale  dry-goods  house  in  Boston,  and  in  1849  again 
returned  to  Warner  and  engaged  in  bvisiness  there  until  the  spring  of  1851, 
when  he  sold  out  his  interest  and  went  out  of  mercantile  business  entii'ely.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Warner  he  was  postmaster  from  1844  to  1849,  was  selectman 
in  1847  and  1849,  town  treasurer  in  1849,  and  a  representative  to  the  general 
court  in  1850  and  1851.  He  was  also  selected  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  build  the  Merrimack  county  jail  in  Concord,  in  1851—52,  with 
the  general  superintendence  of  the  construction  of  the  work,  which  was  most 
faithfully  done. 

In  November,  1851,  Mr.  Pillsbury  was  appointed  purchasing  agent  of  the 
Concord  Railroad,  and  commenced  his  duties  in  the  following  December,  having 


HON.    GEORGE   ALFRED    PILLSBURY.  41 

in  the  iiieautime  moved  his  tUiuily  to  Concord.  For  nearly  twenty-four  years  he 
occupied  this  position,  and  discharged  its  duties  with  rare  business  abihty,  showing 
wise  judgment  in  all  his  purchases,  which  amoiinted  to  more  than  three  million 
dollars,  and  settling  more  cases  of  claims  against  the  corporation  for  alleged  inju- 
ries to  persons  and  property  than  all  the  other  officers  of  the  road.  He  had  great 
quickness  of  ]ierception  and  promptness  in  action,  two  wonderful  business  (piali- 
ties,  which,  when  rightly  used,  always  bring  success. 

During  his  residence  of  twenty-seven  years  in  Concord,  he  gradually  acquired 
a  position  which  all  may  envy.  Various  positions  of  trust,  both  in  public  mat- 
ters and  as  a  private  adviser,  were  discharged  by  him  most  faithfully.  He  was 
one  of  the  connuittee  appointed  by  the  Union  school-di.strict  to  build  the  high 
school  and  several  other  school  buildings.  He  was  also  interested  in  the  erection 
of  several  of  the  handsome  business  blocks  and  fine  residences  in  the  city. 

In  the  year  ISG-t,  Mr.  Pillsbury,  with  others,  established  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Concord.  From  the  first  he  was  one  of  the  directors,  and  in  1866  be- 
came its  president,  which  position  he  held  until  his  departure  from  the  state.  He 
was  also  more  instrumental  than  any  other  person  in  organizing  the  National  Sav- 
ings Bank  in  1867.  Of  the  savings  bank  he  was  the  first  president,  and  held 
the  position  until  1874,  when  he  resigned.  During  Mr.  Pillsbury's  management 
of  the  First  National  Bank,  it  became,  in  proportion  to  its  capital  stock,  the 
strongest  bank  in  the  state.  Up  to  December,  1873,  when  the  treasurer  was  dis- 
covered to  be  a  defaulter  to  a  large  amount,  the  savings  bank  was  one  of  the  most 
successful  in  the  state;  but  this  defalcation,  with  the  general  crash  in  business, 
required  its  closing  up.  Its  total  deposits  up  to  the  time  mentioned  exceeded 
three  million  dollars.  The  bank  finally  paid  its  depositors  nearly  dollar  for 
dollar  and  interest,  notwithstanding  the  large  defalcation  by  its  treasurer. 

Mr.  Pillsbury  was  elected  a  representative  to  the  general  court  from  ward 
five,  in  1871  and  1872,  and  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the 
apportionment  of  public  taxes  during  the  session  of  the  legislature  in  1872. 
For  several  years  Mr.  Pillsbur}'^  was  a  member  of  the  city  councils  of  Concord, 
and  his  intimate  knowledge  of  public  affairs  led  the  people  to  twice  elect  him  as 
mayor,  a  position  the  duties  of  which  he  discharged  with  that  rare  ability  which 
had  characterized  all  his  other  aftairs ;  and  it  was  during  this  time  that  he  decided, 
after  much  consideration,  and  with  deep  reluctance,  to  leave  Concord  and  move 
to  Minnea])olis,  Minn.,  where  he  had  already  ac(piired  large  interests.  When 
this  resolution  was  made  public,  it  drew  forth  strong  and  wide-spread  pro- 
tests from  the  citizens  and  neighbors  whom  he  had  served  so  long,  for  they  felt 
the  state  could  illy  aff'ord  to  lose  such  a  man.      But  of  this  we  will  sj>eak  later. 

During  his  residence  in  Concord  he  was  identified  with  all  nu^asures  to  pro- 
mote the  public  good.  Both  by  his  business  judgment  and  his  ready  purse  did 
he  aid  the  benevolent  and  religious  organizations.  He  was  actively  engaged  in 
establishing  the  Centennial  Home  of  Concord,  for  the  aged,  making  large  contri- 
butions and  serving  as  a  trustee.  He  was  also  a  generous  giver  to  the  Orphans' 
Home  at  Franklin,  and  was  a  trustee  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  until  he  left 
the  state.  In  1876  he  was  appointed,  by  the  city  councils,  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee of  three  to  appraif^e  all  the  real  estate  of  the  city  for  taxation  purposes. 
Several  objects  attest  his  genei'osity  and  public  spirit,  among  which  might  be 
mentioned  the  gift  to  the  city  of  the  fine  bell  in  tlu;  tower  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
building,  and  the  handsome  organ  in  the  First  Ba])ti.st  church.  —  a  joint  gift  from 
himself  and  his  son.  Hon.  Charles  A.  Pillsbury.  of  ^linneapolis.  He  also  made 
several  large  contributions  towards  building  and  endowing  the  academy  at  New 
London. 

Upon  his  preparing  to  leave  Concord  for  the  West,  in  the  spring  of  1878.  ex- 
pressions of  regret  came  to  him  from  all  sources.  Complimentary  resolutions 
4 


42  HON.    GEORGE    ALFRED   PILLSBURY. 

were  unanimously  adopted  by  both  branches  of  the  city  government,  and  by  the 
First  National  Bank,  the  latter  testifying  most  emphatically  to  his  integrity  and 
superior  business  qualities.  The  First  Baptist  church,  of  which  he  was  an  active 
member  during  his  residence  in  Concord,  and  its  society  also  passed  similar  reso- 
lutions. The  Webster  club,  composed  of  some  fifty  of  the  leading  citizens,  also 
adopted  resolutions  regretting  deeply  his  departure.  A  private  testimonial  signed 
by  over  three  hundred  of  the  leading  citizens  of  all  branches  of  business,  all  the 
members  of  the  city  government,  all  the  banking  officers  and  professional  men, 
was  presented,  and  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  an  elegant  bronze  statue  was  pre- 
sented to  himself  and  wife  by  members  of  the  First  Baptist  church.  In  church 
affairs  and  acts  of  private  charity  he  had  always  shown  a  strong  interest,  which 
drew  him  friends  from  all  classes  of  people. 

Coming  to  Minneapolis  he  was  at  once  recognized,  and  from  the  moment  he 
established  himself  there  he  took  an  assured  position.  He  at  once  entered  ac- 
tively into  the  milling  business  (in  which  he  had  long  been  interested)  in  the  firm 
of  C.  A.  Pillsbury  &  Co.,  composed  of  himself,  his  brother,  Grov.  J.  S.  Pillsbury, 
and  his  two  sons,  Hon.  C.  A.  Pillsbury  and  Fred  C.  Pillsbury, — to-day  the 
largest  producers  of  flour  in  the  world,  operating  five  large  flouring-mills  with  a 
capacity  of  seven  thousand  five  hundred  barrels  per  day.  The  business  of  this 
firm,  while  selling  a  large  amount  of  flour  in  the  United  States,  has  been  grad- 
ually directed  to  the  European  trade,  supplying  the  foreign  markets  with  the  very 
best  brands  of  breadstufts.  To-day  there  is  not  a  European  market  in  which 
their  flour  is  not  sold  extensively  and  given  the  highest  quotations. 

Mr.  Pillsbury,  much  against  his  wishes,  has  been  crowded  again  into  public 
life  in  Minnesota,  and  only  a  few  weeks  since,  while  on  a  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast, 
in  company  with  President  Villard,  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Minneapolis. 
He  is  also  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  vice-president  of  the  Northwestern 
National  Bank,  president  of  the  Minneapolis  Free  Dispensary,  and  president  of 
the  Minnesota  Baptist  State  Association. 

Despite  his  years,  Mr.  Pillsbury  has  all  the  activity  and  impulses  of  a  man  of 
forty.  He  is  a  great  friend  of  young  men,  aiding  them  not  only  by  advice  but 
in  a  practical  manner,  and,  without  seeking  popularity,  finding  himself  beloved 
by  all.  In  the  city  of  his  adoption  he  has  built  himself  a  handsome  residence 
with  spacious  grounds.  His  love  for  his  old  home  manifests  itself  in  all  his 
tastes,  and  in  his  residence  he  has  wrought  in  the  beautiful  New  Hampshire 
granite  brought  from  his  old  home  in  Concord. 

In  1841,  Mr.  Pillsbury  married  Margaret  S.  Carleton,  a  lady  beloved  by  all, 
who  has  always  busied  herself  in  acts  of  goodness  and  l)enevolence.  No  one  has 
ever  known  her  but  to  love  her.  From  this  marriage  three  children  were  born, 
two  sons  and  a  daughter, —  Charles  A.,  born  October  3,  1842  ;  Mary  Adda,  born 
April  25,  1848;  and  Fred  C,  born  August  27, 1852.  Mary  Adda  died  May  11, 
1849.  Charles  A.  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  18G8  ;  has  been  an  active 
and  successful  business  man  in  Minneapolis  for  the  past  twelve  years,  for  the  last 
four  years  has  been  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  and  is  a  man  greatly  respected 
by  all.  Fred  C.  is  a  practical  business  man,  possessed  of  sound  judgment,  and  is 
rapidly  making  his  way  in  the  world. 

It  is  needless  to  speak  of  the  qualities  which  have  given  a  gentleman  like 
George  A.  Pillsbury  the  position  and  influence  of  which  we  have  spoken.  They 
are  apparent  to  all.  Starting  with  integrity  and  great  strength  of  purpose,  pos- 
sessed of  a  keen  perception,  a  shrewd  judge  of  men,  and  an  impressive  bearing, 
he  has  attained  an  eminence  which  all  may  admire.  Well  may  New  Hampshire 
point  with  pride  to  such  a  man. 


C^^L^/>^Z 


n^-^ 


JOSIAH  CARPENTER.  ESQ. 


BY    H.    H.    METCALF. 


The  men  who  make  and  wliose  lives  illustrate  the  material  prosperity  and 
progress  of  a  nation  or  people  are  those,  as  a  rule,  whose  life  and  labor  have  been 
devoted  in  the  main  to  the  financial,  commercial,  and  business  interests  of  the 
country.  Politicians,  stump-orators,  and  ofiice-holders  of  long  continuance  in 
place  and  power,  may  attain  greater  celebrity  or  a  wider  transient  popularity,  and 
move  more  effectually  for  the  time  being  the  tide  of  public  sentiment;  yet  the 
influence  which  moves  the  deep  and  silent  yet  strong  and  resistless  currents  which 
make  for  the  substantial  progress  and  development  of  the  race,  is  that  which  is 
exercised  by  the  active,  energetic,  and  persistent  man  of  business,  whose  ready 
and  thorough  conception  of  the  demands  of  industry,  trade,  and  finance,  and 
whose  prompt  action  at  their  behest,  make  him  not  only  the  master  of  his  own 
fortune,  but,  to  a  great  extent,  that  of  others.  Of  this  class  of  men  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  a  prominent  representative  in  this  state. 

JosiAH  Carpenter  was  born  in  the  town  of  Chichester,  May  81,  1829.  His 
ancestry  goes  ba.ck  in  direct  line  to  William  Carpenter,  who  in  the  year  1638,  at 
the  aae  of  sixty-two  yeais.  embarked  with  his  son  William,  aged  thirty-three,  and 
his  wife,  Abigail,  and  their  four  children,  for  America,  sailing  in  the  ship  "Bevis," 
from  the  port  of  Southamj»ton,  England,  and  making  their  home  at  Weymouth, 
Mass.  From  Joseph,  one  oi'  the  four  children  named,  the  line  of  descent  runs 
through  Benjamin,  born  Januai-y  15,  1657,  John,  born  March  25,  1691,  and 
John,  born  January  4,  1728,  to  Josiah,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  and  for  whom  he  was  named.  The  senior  Josiah  Carpenter  was  born  in 
Stafford.  Conn.,  October  6.  1762,  being  one  of  a  family  of  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Himself  and  three  of  his  brothers  served  in  the  patriot  army  in 
the  war  of  the  Ilevolution,  one  of  the  brothers  being  killed  while  on  sentinel  duty 
at  Roxbury  Neck.  He;  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  from  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege in  the  class  of  1787,  studied  for  the  ministry,  and,  November  2,  1791,  was 
ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  church  in  Chichester, 
which  jiastorate  he  retained  i'or  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years,  establishing  and 
maintaining  a  rejmtation  for  geniality,  benevolence,  and  hospitality  which  gained 
for  him  the  afiectionate  regard  and  esteem  of  his  people.  Throughout  his  entire 
career  as  a  citizen  and  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  he  labored  earnestly  and  diligently 
to  advance  every  undertaking  which  had  for  its  object  the  public  good,  or  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  cause  of  religious  truth,  as  he  understood  it.  He  married, 
April  13,  1790,  Hannah  Morrill,  of  Canterbury;  and  their  children  were 
Nancy,  David  Morrill,  John  Thurston,  Clarissa,  Hannah,  and  Oliver,  none  of 
whom  are  now  living. 

The  second  child  —  David  Morrill  Carpenter  —  was  born  in  Chichester,  No- 
vember 16,  1793,  and,  after  receiving  a  good  academic  education,  ccmimenccd  active 
life  in  his  native  town  in  the  capacity  of  a  country  merchant,  which  business  he 
followed  with  much  success  for  many  years ;  but  subsequently  turned  his  atten- 


44  JOSIAH    CARPENTER,    ESQ. 

tion  to  agriculture,  becoming  tlie  owner  of  an  extensive  farm,  whicli  lie  cultivated 
for  several  yejirs  in  a  most  successful  manner.  Notwithstanding  the  constant  de- 
mands of  his  private  occupation,  which,  as  his  success  demonstrated,  were  never 
neglected,  a  great  portion  of  his  time  during  the  period  of  his  active  life  was 
always  claimed  by  the  public  duties  imposed  by  his  fellow-citizens.  Almost  con- 
tinually for  twenty -five  years  he  held  one  or  more  town  offices,  being  several  years 
chosen  as  the  representative  of  his  town  in  the  state  legislature,  the  duties  of 
which  position  he  discharged  with  ability  and  fidelity.  He  served  as  a  member 
of  the  board  of  commissioners  for  Merrimack  county,  and  was  also,  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Merrimack  County  Savings  Bank  of  Con- 
cord ;  he  was  also  for  a  long  time  a  director  of  the  Mechanics  Bank  of  that 
city ;  and  was  almost  invariably  in  attendance  upon  the  weekly  meetings  of  the 
boards  of  the  respective  institutions.  January  13,  1818,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Mary,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Chesley  Perkins,  of  Wells,  Maine,  who 
married  Hannah  Dennett,  of  Portsmouth,  December  6,  1787,  and  shortly  removed 
with  his  young  wife  to  the  town  of  Loudon  in  this  state,  adjoining  Chichester, 
which  was  then  almost  a  wilderness,  where  he  cleared  up  a  large  farm,  became  a 
prosperous  and  influential  citizen  of  the  town,  and  reared  a  family  of  six  children, 
of  whom  Mary,  above  mentioned,  was  the  fourth.  The  children  of  David  M. 
and  Mary  (Perkins)  Carpenter  were  Charles  H.,  Josiah,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  Clara  A.,  Sarah  L.,  and  Frank  P.,  besides  two  daughters,  who  died  in 
early  life.  In  1850,  Mr.  Carpenter  removed  to  the  town  of  Epsom,  where  he 
purchased  a  large  farm,  in  the  management  of  which  his  son  Josiah  was  associated' 
with  him.  upon  which  he  remained  until  he  retired  from  active  business,  in  1858, 
in  which  year  he  removed  to  Concord,  where  he  resided  until  his  death,  December 
9,  1873,  seven  years  subsequent  to  the  death  of  his  wife,  who  departed  this  life, 
November  4,  1866,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years.  A  man  of  wide  influence, 
universally  exerted  for  good,  he  lived  beloved  and  died  respected.  He  had  been 
a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  enlisting  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  although  but 
a  boy  at  the  time ;  yet,  like  his  father,  who  had  served  in  the  Revolution, 
he  would  never  accept  from  the  government  the  pension  to  which  he  was 
legally  entitled. 

Charles  H.,  the  eldest  son  and  child  of  David  M.  Carpenter,  resides  in  the 
town  of  Chichester,  where  he  has  always  had  his  residence,  and  where  he  has 
won  a  reputation,  not  only  as  one  of  the  successful  farmers,  but  most  prominent 
citizens,  of  the  town  and  of  the  county.  His  farming  property  embraces  more 
than  a  thousand  acres  of  land.  He  is  also  quite  extensively  engaged  as  a 
dealer  in  real  estate  and  lumber.  Clara  A.,  the  eldest  surviving  daughter,  is 
tlie  wife  of  Samuel  C.  Merrill,  a  prosperous  flour  manufacturer  and  flour  and 
grain  dealer,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.,  formerly  a  well  known  wholesale  merchant  of 
Manchester.  Sarah  L.  married  Prof.  James  W.  Webster,  of  Maiden,  Mass.,  a 
teacher  of  experience  and  ability,  now  and  for  many  years  past  principal  of  the 
Hancock  school,  Boston,  formerly  a  successful  teacher  in  Concord.  Frank  P., 
the  youngest  son,  is  a  member  of  the  enterprising  and  well  known  firm  of  Drake 
&  Carpenter  of  Manchester,  who  are  extensively  engaged  in  the  wholesale  flour 
and  grain  trade. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch, —  Josiah,  the  second  son  of  David  Morrill  Car- 
penter, —  although  engaged  to  some  extent  in  boyhood  in  assisting  his  father 
upon  the  farm,  secured  an  academical  education  at  Pembroke  and  Pittsfield  acad- 
emies, and  at  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary  at  Sanbornton  Bridge 
(now  Tilton).  Very  early  in  life  he  manifested  an  aptitude  for  business,  and  en- 
gaged for  some  time  in  youth  in  the  purcliase  and  sale  of  live  stock,  not  only  in 
this  section  but  at  the  Southwest.      Returning  home  from   Kentucky  about  the 


JOSIAH    CARPENTER,    ESQ.  45 

time  his  father  removed  to  Epsom,  he  engaged  with  him  in  extensive  farming 
operations  in  that  town.  He  received,  soon  after,  an  appointment  as  deputy- 
sherifl'  for  the  county  of  Merrimack,  and  also  for  the  counties  of  Belknap  and 
Hillsborough,  which  position  he  held  for  several  years,  and  in  which  he  trans- 
acted a  lartre  amount  of  business.  For  three  or  four  years  previous  to  his  fa- 
tlier's  removal  to  Concord,  the  entire  management  of  the  farm  was  substantially  in 
his  hands,  which,  together  with  his  official  business  and  individual  enterprises  in 
diffi-rent  directions,  gave  ample  scope  for  his  energy  and  capacity. 

In  1858  the  farm  in  Epsom  was  sold,  and,  his  father  having  removed  to 
Concord,  ^Ir.  Carpenter,  in  April  of  that  year,  established  his  residence  in  the 
town  of  rittsfield,  having  been  tendered  and  accepted  the  cashiership  of  the 
Pittsfield  bank.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  that  position  so  satisfactorily  that 
upon  its  conversion  to  a  national  bank,  in  18G4,  he  was  continued  as  cashier  and 
also  made  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors.  He  continued  his  residence  in 
Pittsfield  until  the  spring  of  1877,  remaining  all  the  while  in  management  of 
the  banks  aifairs,  while  at  the  same  time  engaging  in  various  lines  of  busi- 
ness in  his  own  behalf.  Nor  did  he  fail  to  devote  attention  to  public  affairs. 
Never  a  politician,  but  always  a  stanch  Democrat,  he  took  no  little  interest  in 
the  success  of  his  party,  as  well  as  the  welfare  of  the  town  and  community.  He 
was  frequently  intrusted  with  official  responsibilities  by  his  fellow-citizens  of 
Pittsfield.  and" represented  them  in  the  legislature  in  18G2  and  18G3. 

In  the  fall  of  180:5,  his  health  having  become  impaired  from  overwork,  he 
went  South  to  spend  the  winter,  upon  the  advic&  of  his  physicians,  going  first  to 
New  Orleans,  whence  he  made  a  trip  up  the  river,  where  he  had  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity for  viewing  the  operations  of  the  army  in  that  quarter,  the  time  being 
soon  after  Gen.  Butler's  occupancy  of  the  city.  Later  in  the  season  he  visited 
Cuba,  where  he  remained  some  time,  returning  in  the  spring  greatly  invigorated, 
and  with  improved  general  health.  He  was  elected  treasurer  of  Merrimack 
county  in  1872,  and  again  the  following  year,  receiving  at  each  election  a  support 
considerably  in  excess  of  his  party  vote.  Long  prominent  in  the  councils  of  his 
party  in  his  section  of  the  state,  he  has  served  also,  at  diff"erent  times,  as  a 
member  of  the  Democratic  state  committee. 

In  March,  1877,  desiring  a  more  extensive  field  of  business  operation,  Mr. 
Carpenter  resigned  his  position  as  cashier  of  the  Pittsfield  National  Bank  and 
removed  to  the  city  of  Manchester,  where,  with  characteristic  vigor  and  enter- 
prise, he  immediately  set  about  the  work  of  procuring  a  charter  for  and  organiz- 
ing the  Second  National  Bank  of  Manchester,  of  which  institution  he  has 
been  a  director  and  cashier  since  its  organization.  The  national  bank  being  well 
established,  he  assisted  in  securing  a  charter  for  and  organizing  the  Mechanics 
Savings  Bank,  of  which  he  has  been  from  the  first  a  trustee  and  the  treasurer. 
B(tth  these  institutions,  under  his  skillful  supervision,  have  attained  a  prosperous 
and  flourishing  condition.  Aside  from  his  general  banking  operations,  he  has  in 
Manchester,  as  elsewhere,  dealt  extensively  in  notes,  bonds,  and  real  estate,  and 
has  been,  for  the  past  few  years,  quite  largely  engaged  in  building.  In  company 
with  ex-Gov,  Smyth,  he  is  proprietor  of  Smyth  and  Carpenters  block,  on  Elm 
street,  the  northern  half  of  which  has  recently  been  completed.  This  block  is 
four  stories  high  and  basement ;  has  a  frontage,  on  Elm  street,  of  two  hundred 
feet,  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet ;  contains  ten  stores  on  the  first  floor,  with 
offices  and  tenements  above ;  and  is,  beyond  question,  the  largest  brick  block  in 
the  state  in  the  ownership  of  anv  single  firm. 

Mr.  Carpenter  has  always  manifested  an  interest  in  educational  affairs,  and 
has  been  specially  interested  in  the  establishment  and  prosperity  of  the  Holder- 
ness  School  for  Boys,  located  at  Holderness  in  this  state,  under  the  auspices  of 


46  JOSIAH    CARPENTER,    ESQ. 

the  Episcopalian  denomination,  with  which  he  is  associated.  He  has  been  one  of 
the  trustees  of  this  school  from  the  inception  of  the  enterprise,  and  is  also  the 
treasurer.  He  devoted  much  time  and  personal  care  to  the  work  of  remodeling 
the  buildings  at  the  outset,  and,  since  then,  to  their  enlargement  as  the  growth 
and  success  of  the  school  has  demanded. 

September  1,  1858,  Mr.  Carpenter  was  united  in  marriage  with  Georgianna 
Butters  Drake,  born  January  15,  1836,  a  lady  of  fine  mental  capacity  and  at- 
tainments, endowed  with  the  graces  and  virtues  essential  to  true  womanhood,  and 
at  home  alike  in  the  social  as  well  as  the  domestic  circle.  She  was  the  only 
daughter  and  eldest  child  of  the  late  Col.  James  Drake  of  Pittsfield,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  that  town,  well  known  in  public  life,  who  filled  various  respon- 
sible offices,  including  that  of  state  senator,  and  who  died  April  .7,  1870.  He 
was  a  descendant  of  the  celebrated  Sir  Francis  Drake,  the  English  explorer  and 
naval  commander  who  was  the  first  Englishman  to  circumnavigate  the  globe,  and 
attained  the  rank  of  vice-admiral  of  the  British  navy.  The  family  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  of  New  England,  and  trace  their  ancestry  more  than  six  hun- 
dred years.  The  elder  brother  of  Mrs.  Carpenter  —  Frank  J.  Drake — is  the 
])artner  of  Mr.  Carpenter's  younger  brother  —  Frank  P. —  in  the  firm  of  Drake 
&  Carpenter,  heretofore  mentioned,  while  her  younger  brother  —  Nathaniel  S. — 
is  in  business  at  Pittsfield. 

Two  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carpenter,  —  a  daughter, 
Greorgia  Ella,  born  October  13,  1859,  an  accomplished  young  lady  who  resides 
with  her  parents,  and  a  son  who  died  in  infancy.  Their  residence  is  a  fine  brick 
mansion,  among  the  most  substantial  in  the  city,  on  north  Elm  street,  at  the 
corner  of  Sagamore. 

Mr.  Carpenter  is  now  in  the  prime  of  life,  though  his  business  career  has 
already  been  more  extended  and  successful  than  that  of  most  men  of  similar  voca- 
tion who  have  been  engaged  a  life-time  therein.  Filling  various  positions  of  trust 
and  responsibility,  public  and  corporate,  with  the  greatest  acceptability ;  of  sound 
judgment,  strong  will,  quick  perception  and  a  practical,  well  balanced  mind,  and 
unquestioned  integrity  of  action  ;  enjoying  the  general  confidence  of  the  public, 
and  in  a  special  degree  that  of  those  persons  obliged  or  accustomed  to  seek  ad- 
vice or  assistance  from  others,  in  matters  of  business, — his  success  may  indeed  be 
regarded  as  far  greater  than  that  of  those  ordinarily  known  as  fortunate  busi- 
ness men,  while  there  yet  remains,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  ample  time  for 
farther  successes  and  srreater  achievements. 


HON.  CHARLES  WILLIAMS. 


BY   O.    C.    MOORE. 


It  haa  long  seemed  to  the  writer  that  the  successful  organizer  of  modern 
industry  deserved  a  high  place  in  public  estimation.  The  qualities  usually  found 
in  such  a  person  constitute  as  rare  a  combination  as  can  be  found  in  any  depart- 
ment of  human  activity.  Those  qualities  are  industry,  probity,  intelligence, 
judgment,  and  executive  ability.  These  virtues  will  always  be  found  to  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  a  well  ordered  and  prosperous  state.  When  to  these  are  added 
enterprise  and  energy,  there  is  little  wanting  either  to  the  successful  individual 
or  to  the  growing  community.  It  is  to  this  class  of  men  that  New  England 
owes  much  of  its  pre-eminence  to-day.  What  the  pioneer  settlers  did  to  smooth 
the  path  for  their  successors;  what  the  forefathers  of  the  Revolution  con- 
tributed to  establish  a  new  government  and  place  it  upon  a  self-supporting 
basis, — the  men  who  established  the  industrial  enterprises  of  New  England  have 
done  for  their  posterity  and  the  perpetuity  of  republican  institutions.  If  New 
England  should  be  stripped  to-morrow  of  her  mills,  shops,  and  foundries,  and  the 
wealth  and  institutions  that  they  in  turn  have  created,  New  England  would  be 
but  little  more  than  an  obscure  and  unenterprising  hill  country,  with  a  dimin- 
ishing population  and  lessening  influence.  She  would  have  a  noble  and  inspiring 
history,  but  her  glory  would  be  departed. 

Hon.  Charles  Williams,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  belongs  to  the 
untitled  American  nobility  of  organizers  of  industry.  He  comes  of  an  old 
industrial  stock,  and  can  trace  his  lineage  back,  through  six  generations  of 
workers,  to  a  stalwart  ancestor  in  old  Wales.  The  Williamses  formed  a  large 
part  of  the  population  of  Wales,  "  somewhat  like  the  O's  of  Ireland  and  the 
Mac's  of  Scotland."  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  ancestor  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well, in  the  fourth  remove,  was  a  Williams,  known  as  Morgan  ap  Williams,  of 
Grlamorganshire,  Wales,  a  gentleman  of  property,  who  married  a  sister  of  Lord 
Thomas  Cromwell,  afterwards  Earl  of  Essex.  Carlyle  speaks  of  the  Protector 
as  "  Cromwell  alias  Williams."  The  "  Encyclopedia  Americana  "  states  positively 
that  the  genealogy  of  Cromwell  is  traced  to  Richard  Williams,  who  assumed  the 
name  of  Cromwell  from  his  maternal  uncle,  Thomas  Cromwell,  secretary  of  state 
to  Henry  VIII. 

However  this  may  be,  Richard  Williams,  the  sixth  remove  in  a  direct  line 
from  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  came  to  America  from  Grlamorganshire,  Wales, 
in  1632,  and  settled  in  Taunton,  Mass.  Among  his  descendants  were  Hon.  John 
Mason  Williams,  a  distinguished  jurist  of  Massachusetts  ;  G-en.  Seth  Williams, 
of  Augusta,  Me.,  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  a  distinguished  ofiicer  in  the 
Mexican  war ;  Hon.  Ruel  Williams,  of  Augusta,  Me. ;  and  Hon.  Lemuel  Will- 
iams, a  member  of  congress  from  Massachusetts.  It  is  a  coincidence  of  note 
that  the  occupation  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  as  well  as  that  of  his  lineal 
descendants,  follows  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  the  Welch  ancestry.  Grlam- 
organshire is  famous  for  its  iron  and  coal  mines,  and  its  iron-works  are  on  the 


48  HON^.    CHARLES   WILLIAMS. 

most  extensive  scale,  it  having  sixty  blast  furnaces,  some  of  which  give  employ- 
ment to  six  thousand  men. 

The  direct  descent  from  Richard  Williams  of  Taunton  is  as  follows  :  Ben- 
jamin Williams,  settled  in  Easton,  Mass. ;  Josiah  Williams,  settled  at  Bridgewater, 
Mass.  Seth  Williams,  the  great-grandfather  of  Mr.  Williams,  was  born  at 
Bridgewater,  May  21,  1722.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  went  to  Easton,  Mass., 
and  took  up  one  thousand  acres  of  government  land.  He  married  Susannah 
Forbes,  of  Bridgewater,  and  built  the  homestead  now  standing  in  Easton. 
Edward  Williams,  his  son,  married  Sarah  Lothrop,  of  Bridgewater,  in  1772,  still 
retaining  the  "homestead,"  where  Lieut.  Seth  Williams,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  born  January  29,  1776.  He  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  and 
took  part  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  married  Sarah  Mitchael,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Mitchael,  of  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  an  active  man  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and 
for  many  years  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  Easton.  They  were  married 
in  1800,  and  lived  near  the  "homestead."  They  had  eight  children,  Charles, 
the  present  subject,  being  the  third  son,  born  at  Easton,  August  1,  1816. 

The  first  seventeen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  on  the  farm,  receiving  such 
rudimentary  education  as  could  be  obtained  at  a  district  school.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  apprenticed  himself  to  Gen.  Shepherd  Leach,  proprietor  of  the 
"Easton  Iron- Works,"  for  the  term  of  four  years,  to  learn  the  foundry  business, 
with  a  compensation  of  twenty-five  dollars  for  the  first  year,  fifty  dollars  for  the 
second,  seventy-five  dollars  for  the  third,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
for  the  fourth.  By  the  death  of  Gen.  Leach  the  contract  was  surrendered;  but 
young  Williams  still  continued  in  the  employ  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Lincoln  Drake, 
until  the  panic  of  1837.  In  this  stagnation  of  business  at  the  East,  he  deter- 
mined to  go  West,  and  purchased  several  hundred  acres  of  land  near  Springfield, 
111.  The  now  flourishing  capital  of  the  state  was  then  represented  by  a  few 
dwelling-houses,  one  church,  and  a  small  hotel.  This  "  New  West"  could  then 
boast  of  no  railroads,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  produce  to  market,  which  was 
mainly  by  flat-boats  down  the  Mississippi,  off"ered  but  little  attraction  to  farming, 
and  he  returned  East.  For  two  years  he  was  employed  in  the  foundry  at  North 
Chelmsford,  Mass.,  and  the  subsequent  three  years  in  the  Amoskeag  foimdry  at 
Manchester,  N.  H. 

Mr.  Williams  came  to  Nashua  in  1845,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  endowed 
with  good  health,  correct  habits,  and  an  honorable  ambition.  In  company  with 
his  elder  brother,  Seth,  they  established  the  foundry  business,  under  the  firm 
name  of  S.  &  C.  Williams,  erecting  a  building  eighty  by  one  hundred  feet,  and 
the  business  commenced.  It  was  in  the  same  year  that  two  other  important  and 
still  flourishing  industries  were  begun  in  Nashua,  —  the  manufacture  of  shuttles 
and  bobbins  by  J.  &  E.  Baldwin,  and  the  manufacture  of  mortise-locks  and  door- 
knobs by  L.  W.  Noyes  and  David  Baldwin.  This  was  the  day  of  small  begin- 
nings, and  only  twenty-five  hands  were  employed  in  the  foundry  for  several  years. 
The  business  grew  steadily,  however,  and  everything  seemed  propitioiis.  On  the 
second  of  July,  1849,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  works,  and,  in  spite  of  all  exertions, 
the  entire  property  was  consumed,  including  all  the  patterns.  The  total  loss  was 
estimated  at  forty  thousand  dollars.  It  was  a  staggering  blow,  as  these  young 
men  had  no  insurance.  Men  of  less  courage  and  energy  would  have  succumbed 
to  such  a  misfortune ;  but  on  the  very  day  of  the  fire  the  work  of  rebuilding  was 
begun,  and  pushed  with  rapidity,  a  brick  structure  taking  the  place  of  the  wood 
one  destroyed.  The  partnership  of  S.  &  C.  Williams  was  dissolved  in  1859,  and 
the  business  has  since  been  continued  by  Charles.  His  brother  Seth  has  been 
extensively  employed  in  similar  business.  The  business  of  the  Williams  foundry 
in  Nashua  has  steadily  increased,  and  was  never  more  extensive  than  to-day.  The 
pay-roll  shows  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  hands  employed. 


HON^.    CHARLES   WILLIAMS.  49 

Strict  attention  to  business,  unyielding  integrity,  and  thorough  mastery  of 
his  calling  have  been  Mr.  Williams's  secret  of  success.  He  was  one  of  five  who 
organized  the  Second  National  Bank,  and  has  since  held  the  position  of  vice- 
president  of  the  bank.  Mr.  Williams  was  elected  a  member  of  the  common 
council  soon  after  the  organization  of  the  city,  in  1853,  but  from  that  time  until 
1876  he  neither  sought  nor  held  any  political  office.  In  this  centennial  year, 
however,  his  party  turned  instinctively  towards  him  as  its  most  available  candi- 
date for  mayor,  and  at  the  nominating  caucus  he  received  an  almost  unanimous 
nomination.  The  nomination  was  ratified,  and  Mr.  Williams  became  the  centen- 
nial mayor  of  Nashua.  His  administi'ation  was  characterized  by  the  same 
prudence,  fidelity,  and  success  that  have  crowned  his  business  career.  He  was 
nominated  for  re-election,  and  the  nomination  was  ratified  at  the  polls  by  an 
increased  vote  and  a  largely  increased  majority.  One  of  the  social  events  of  Mr. 
Williams's  term  of  service  was  the  visit  of  President  Hayes  and  his  cabinet  to 
the  city,  and  at  the  mayor's  residence,  which  was  elaborately  decorated  for  the 
occasion,  Mrs.  Hayes  held  a  public  reception,  which  was  attended  by  a  great 
throng  of  people  from  the  city  and  the  surrounding  towns. 

In  his  domestic  relations  Mr.  AVilliams  has  been  one  of  the  most  fortunate 
and  happiest  of  men.  In  1846  he  married  Eliza  A.  Weston,  a  cultivated  chris- 
tian woman,  and  a  devoted  wife  and  mother,  daughter  of  Capt.  Siitheric  Weston, 
of  Antrim,  N.  H. ;  both  are  members  of  the  First  Congregational  church,  Nashua, 
Rev.  Frederick  Alvord,  pastor.  Three  children  have  blessed  the  union.  Seth 
Weston  Williams,  born  April  15,  1849,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  class  of  1873, 
and  of  Bellevue  Medical  College,  New  York.  After  travel  and  study  in  Europe 
he  returned  to  his  native  land,  and  had  just  entered  on  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, with  the  brightest  prospects  of  usefulness  and  eminence,  holding  a  respon- 
sible appointment  in  Bellevue  Hospital,  when,  on  a  visit  to  .Portland,  he  was 
attacked  with  congestion  of  the  brain,  which  terminated  his  promising  career  at 
the  age  of  thirty.  The  other  children  are  Charles  Alden  Williams,  born  August 
18,  1851,  married  October  26,  1881,  Kate  N.  Piper;  he  was  graduated  from  the 
scientific  department  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.,  under  Dr.  William 
Taylor,  in  1870,  and  further  pursued  the  same  course  of  study  at  the  school  of 
Technology  in  Boston,  Mass.,  and  will  succeed  his  father  in  business ;  and  Mrs. 
Marian  Williams-Viets,  born  March  4,  1854,  married,  November  8,  1878,  Herbert 
Allen  Yiets,  of  Troy,  Ne^  York. 

Feeling  in  himself  the  want  of  an  early  education,  Mr.  Williams  spared  no 
pains  in  bestowing  superior  advantages  upon  his  children,  all  of  whom  received 
a  liberal  education.  In  1873  he  planned  a  year's  travel  abroad  with  his  family, 
but  the  critical  condition  of  business  in  the  country  at  that  time  prevented  his 
leaving  home.  The  plan  was  carried  out,  however,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Seth 
Williams,  the  trip  covering  the  tour  of  the  Continent,  and  of  the  Orient  as  far 
east  as  Damascus. 


HON.  LEVI  WINTER  BARTON. 


BY    REV.    J.    W.    ADAMS. 


Ancestral  excellence  is  an  invaluable  legacy.  As  a  rule,  "  blood  will  tell," 
and  the  marked  physical,  mental,  and  moral  traits  of  a  prominent  family  are 
likely  to  re-appear  in  many  successive  generations.  And,  added  to  this  hereditary 
wealth,  comes  the  inspiration  of  a  noble  example,  suggesting  the  possibility  and 
the  desirability  of  worthy,  helpful  living.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  fortu- 
nate in  this  regard.  In  the  garnered  wealth  of  a  vigorous,  talented,  and  virtuous 
ancestry,  he  has  "  a  goodly  heritage." 

From  an  abundance  of  reliable  data,  we  extract  only  so  much  from  the 
genealogical  record  as  is  necessary  to  the  integrity  of  the  direct  lines  from  a  very 
distant  past  to  the  present. 

Levi  W.  Barton's  parents  were  Bezaleel  Barton,  2d,  and  Hannah  (Powers) 
Barton.     Let  us  glance  at  the  maternal  ancestry. 

The  family  of  Power  (or  Le  Poer,  as  formerly  written)  was  of  Norman  ex- 
traction, and  settled  in  England  at  the  conquest  of  that  kingdom  by  the  Normans, 
under  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  in  the  person  of  Power,  or  Le  Poer,  who  is 
recorded  in  "  Battle  Abbey  "  as  one  of  the  commanders  at  the  battle  of  Hastings, 
in  1066.  Soon  after.  Sir  John  Le  Poer  resided  in  Poershayse,  Devonshire, 
England. 

In  1172,  one  of  his  descendants.  Sir  Roger  LePoer,  went  with  Earl  Stougbon 
in  his  invasion  and  partial  conquest  of  Ireland,  where  he  greatly  distinguished 
himself,  and  received  large  grants  of  land.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  a  succession 
of  distinguished  men,  among  whom  were  Sir  Nicholas  Le  Poer,  who  had  a  sum- 
mons to  parliament,  in  1375,  as  Baron  Le  Poer,  and  Sir  Richard,  Sir  Peter,  Sir 
Eustace,  and  Sir  Arnold  Le  Poer.  The  barony,  descending  by  writ  to  heirs, 
female  as  well  as  male,  is  now  held  by  the  Marquis  of  Waterford.  The  Earl  of 
Lynn,  for  a  term  of  one  hundred  years,  and  the  Marquis  of  Waterford,  were  of 
that  descent,  through  Lady  Catharine  Poer.  The  family  was  also  a  distinguished 
one  in  England,  from  the  Norman  conquest  down.  In  1187,  Richard  Poer  of 
this  line,  high  sheriff  of  Gloucestershire,  Eng.,  was  killed  defending  the  "  Lord's 
Day ;"  and  Sir  Henry  Le  Poer  distinguished  himself  greatly  as  a  commander 
under  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  This  remarkable  family  has  outlived  the  dynas- 
ties of  the  Conqueror,  the  Plantaganets,  the  Tiadors,  and  the  Stuarts,  and 
flourishes  yet.  Since  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  they  have  returned  to 
their  early  orthography  of  Power ;  and  finally,  in  America,  have  added  the  "  s," 
making  it  Powers. 

Walter  Powers,  the  ancestor  of  all  the  Powers  families  of  Croydon,  N.  H., 
was  born  in  16.39.  He  came  to  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1654.  He  married,  January 
11,  1660,  Trial,  daughter  of  Deacon  Ralph  Shepherd.  They  moved  to  Nashoba, 
and  he  died  there  in  1708.  The  town,  in  1715,  was  incorporated  by  the  name 
of  Littleton  (Mass.). 


(S^    //"f  ^  ^^  '^^Z^-- 


HON.    LEVI    WINTER   BARTON. 


51 


Of  the  nine  children  of  Walter  and  Trial  Powers,  the  eldest,  William,  was 
born  in  IGGl,  and  married,  1688,  Mary  Bank.  ^     ,      ^  „..„.         o. 

Of  the  nine  children  of  William  and  Mary  (Bank)  Powers,  William,  M, 
was  b.  1691,  in  Nashoba,  and  m.,  1713,  Lydia  Perham^    ,  -^  t  i 

Of  the  four  children  of  William,  2d,  and  Lydia  (Perham)  Powers,  Lemuel 
was  b  in  1714,  and  m.  Thankful  Leland,  of  Grafton,  Mass.,  daughter  ol  Lapt. 
James  Leland  All  except  the  eldest  of  their  children  settled  in  Croydon,  N.  H. ; 
and  two  of  his  sons  served  Croydon  as  soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  Although  not 
an  "  original  grantee  of  Crovdon,"  he  owned  "proprietors'  rights"  at  an  early 
day  aucl  often  attended  '^  proprietors'  "  meetings  at  the  inn  of  his  brother-in-law, 
Lieut   Phinehas  Leland.  as  moderator.     He  died  in  Northbridge,  Mass.,  17J^. 

Of  the  ten  children  of  Lieut.  Lemuel  and  Thankful  (Leland)  Powers,  Lze- 
kiel  was  b.  in  Grafton,  Mass.,  March  16,  1745,  and  m.,  Jan.  28  1767,  Hannah 
Hall  of  Uxbridge,  Mass.,  who  was  daughter  of  Lieut.  Edward  and  Lydia  (Brown) 
H-ill  Levi  W  Barton  was  her  oreat-grandson.  They  came  to  Croydon  m  1  <  67. 
He  was  a  prominent  citizen,  andlield  here  many  offices  of  trust.  He  was  a  man 
of  industry  and  indomitable  energy.     He  d.  in   Croydon,  Nov.   11,  lb(Jh.     His 

widow  d.  Oct.  21,  1835.  ,      ,t  ,,     -n  x?    ^  ■^   oa 

Of  the  seven  children  of  Ezekiel  and  Hannah   (Hall)   Powers,  Ezekiel,  2d 

(the  first  male  child  born  in  Croydon),  was  b.  May  2,  1771.     He  m.  Susannah 

Rice,  Jan.  18,  1790.  ,      t>-        -o  xr         i. 

Of  the  six  children  of  Ezekiel,  2d,  and  Susannah  (Rice)  Powers,  Hannah 
(mother  of  Levi  ^Y.)  was  b.  Feb.  20,  1795,  and  m.  Bezaleel  Barton. 

Edward  Hall  (the  earliest  ancestor  of  Lieut.  Edward  Hall,  who  settled  m 
Croydon  about  1774)  was  at  Duxbury,  Mass.,  in  1637  and  d.  at  Rehoboth, 
Nov  27  1671  The  direct  line  by  generations  is  :  1st,  Edward  ;  2d,  Benjamin  ; 
3d  Edward;  4th,  Lieut.  Edward,  b.  in  Wrentham,  Mass.,  July  18,  172 <;  went 
with  his  father  in  1740  to  Uxbridge,  where  he  held  commissions  under  the  king 
of  Great  Britain.  He  m.,  Aug.  17,  1747,  Lydia  Brown.  ^About  1<  <4  they 
came  to  Croydon,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  moderator,  March,  1  <7o,  tax-collector  and 
constable,  1778,  and  selectman,  1784,  1785,  and  1786  He  d.  in  CiJ>yclon,  Dec. 
28  1807.  His  widow  d.  Aug.  10, 1819.  5th, Hannah,  b.  Oct.  1  1<49,  who  m 
Ezekiel  Powers  and  settled  in  Croydon.  At  this  point  the  Hall  unites  with 
the  Powers  genealogy,  and  the  last-named  persons  were  great-grandparents  ot 
Levi  W.  Barton.  ^       ,  .  ', 

The  Bartons  are  of  English  descent.  Without  undertaking  to  be  precise  as 
to  the  details  of  kinship,  we  are  able  to  identify  the  following  as  among  their 
earliest  ancestry  in  New  England.  Marmaduke  Barton  was  in  Salem,  Mass.,  as 
early  as  1638.  Edward  was  in  Salem  in  1640.  Rufus  fled  from  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  in  Portsmouth,  R.  I.,  in  1040, 

and  died  1648.  -r.-  xt  tt    •    -n^nr 

Mrs  Eliza  Barton  testified  in  an  important  case  at  Piscataqua,  N .  H  m  ib&b. 
Edward,  undoubtedly  the  one  living  in  Salem  in  1640,  and  husband  ot  Ehza 
Barton,  came  to  Exeter,  N.  H.,  in  1657,  and  died  at  Cape  Porpoise  Jan.,  16  a. 
Benjamin  Barton  of  Warwick,  .son  of  Rufus  Barton,  m.,  June  9,  1669,  busan- 
nah  Everton.  Edward  Barton,  son  of  Edward  of  Exeter,  took  the  freeman  s 
oath  in  1674.  Doctor  John  Barton  (probably  son  of  Doctor  James  Barton) 
m.,  April  20,  1676,  Lydia  Roberts  of  Salem,  Mass.  u    j- 

James  Barton,  b.  in  1643,  came  to  Boston,  Mass.,  before  1670.  He  d.  in 
Weston,  Mass.,  in  1729.  Samuel  Barton  (probably  son  of  Doctor  James  Barton) 
was  b  in  1666.  He  testified  in  a  witch  case  (in  favor  of  the  witch,  be  it  said  to 
his  credit)  in  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1691.  Stephen  Barton  was  at  Bristol  (then  in 
Mass.)  in  1690.     Col.  William  Barton,  b.  in  Providence,  m  1747,  — who  with  a 


52  HON.    LEVI   WINTER   BARTON. 

small  body  of  men  crossed  Narragansett  bay  on  the  night  of  July  20,  1777,  passed, 
unnoticed,  three  British  vessels,  landed,  reached  the  (juarters  of  the  English 
general,  Prescott,  and  captured  him,  and  for  which,  history  informs  us,  he 
received  from  congress  the  gift  of  a  sword,  a  commission  as  colonel,  and  a  tract 
of  land  in  Vermont,  —  was  a  descendant  of  Samuel  Barton  and  Hannah  his  wife, 
ancestors  of  the  Bartons  of  Croydon.  They  were  living  in  Framingham,  Mass., 
as  early  as  1690,  and  moved  to  Oxford,  Mass.,  in  1716,  where  his  will  was  proved 
Sept.  23,  1738.  Of  their  eight  children,  Samuel  was  b.  in  Framingham.  Oct.  8, 
1691;  and  m..  May  23,  1715,  f]lizabeth  Bellows. 

Of  the  children  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Bellows)  Barton,  Bezaleel  was  b. 
July  26,  1722,  and  m.,  April  30,  1747,  Phebe  Carlton,  a  lady  noted  for  her 
beauty. 

Of  the  children  of  Bezaleel  and  Phebe  (Carlton)  Barton,  were  Phebe  (one 
of  whose  granddaughters  was  the  wife  of  Dr.  Judson),  Bezaleel,  Benjamin, 
and  Peter  who  was  b.  at  Sutton,  Mass.,  Sept.  3,  1763,  and  went  with  his  parents 
to  Royalston,  Mass.,  in  1764,  where  he  m.  Hepsibeth  Baker,  Nov.  12,  1789. 
Bezaleel  Barton  and  his  sons,  Bezaleel,  Benjamin,  and  Peter,  served  Royalston 
as  soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  Bezaleel,  senior,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill. 

Peter  and  Hepsibeth  (Baker)  Barton  came  to  Croydon,  N.  H.,  in  1793,  where 
he  resided  until  1824,  when  he  removed  to  Sunapee,  where  he  d.  Sept.  24,  1825. 
He  was  chosen  selectman  of  Croydon  from  1801  to  1805,  inclusive.  He  shared 
largely  the  confidence  of  the  public,  and  was  noted  for  his  strict  integrity.  Of 
his  tiairteen  children  born  in  Croydon,  Bezaleel,  2d,  was  b.  July,  1794,  and  m. 
Hannah  Powers,  daughter  of  Ezekiel  Powers,  at  which  point  the  Barton  and 
Powers  genealogies  unite. 

Of  the  children  of  Bezaleel  Barton,  2d,  and  Hannah  ( Powers )  Barton,  Levi 
Winter  was  b.  March  1,  1818. 

The  father,  a  man  of  marked  social  qualities,  and  frank  and  genial  in  his 
bearing,  died  before  the  son  had  reached  his  majority,  and  previous  to  this  busi- 
ness had  taken  the  father  from  home,  so  that  most  of  the  responsibilities  of  the 
family  rested  upon  the  mother.  But  it  is  no  idle  pun  upon  her  maiden  name  to 
say  that  she  was  a  poioer  in  that  household.  She  exercised  a  healthful  and 
unchallenged  discipline.  Her  intuitive  vision  saw  every  material  necessity  of 
the  family  ;  her  unsurpassed  executive  capacity  was  e((ual  to  every  demand  ;  and, 
what  is  ((uite  as  essential  to  the  formation  of  a  symmetrical  character,  her  moral 
and  religious  precepts  and  example  compelled  a  recognition  of  the  claims  of  God 
and  man.  The  sick  and  the  poor  of  her  neighborhood  were  often  greatly  indebted 
to  her  for  the  wisdom  of  her  counsels,  the  abundance  of  her  alms-deeds,  and  the 
warmth  of  her  sympathy.  Universally  venerated  and  esteemed,  she  died  in 
Croydon,  Sept.  14,  1881,  aged  86  years. 

Inheriting  the  best  qualities  of  such  an  ancestry,  molded  and  inspired  by  such 
a  mother,  and  in  boyhood  acquiring  his  fiber  in  the  severe  but  practical  school  of 
tireless  industry,  rigid  economy,  and  heroic  self-denial  and  self-reliance,  we  might 
anticipate  for  Mr.  Barton  a  character  and  a  career  which  would  place  him  among 
the  best  and  foremost  citizens  of  ^  his  state,  and  entitle  him  to  an  important 
chapter  in  its  history.  We  hazard  nothing  when  we  say  that  he  has  made  that 
anticipation  a  reality,  and  that  he  has  aff"orded  us  another  conspicuous  exam- 
ple of  what  the  humblest  may  achieve  under  the  fostering  genius  of  republican 
institutions. 

His  district-school  education,  often  interrupted  by  demands  upon  his  manual 
labor,  consisted  of  ten  brief  winter  terms.     At  eighteen  he  assumed  the  respon- 


HON.    LEVI    WESTTEK   BAKTON.  53 

sibility  of  his  own  education  and  support.  He  had  no  money,  but  he  had  what 
is  better,  courage  and  muscle.  He  went  to  work.  His  books  were  always  near 
by,  so  that,  whenever  there  was  a  leisure  moment,  "the  horny  hands  of  toil" 
would  grasp  and  his  hungry  mind  would  feast  upon  them.  He  would  brook  no 
discoumgements.  No  hours  were  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  Often  on  rainy  days 
he  would  call  on  his  old  friend,  John  Cooper,  Esq.,  to  receive  instruction.  These 
eftbrts,  supplemented  by  a  term  under  Dr.  Miner  of  Boston,  qualified  him  to  teach 
in  the  common  schools.     But  for  awile  he  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  farmmg.^ 

At  twenty-one  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Pike,  one  of  Newport's  worthiest 
young  ladies.  She  died  the  next  year,  leaving  an  infant  son,  Col.  Ira  McL. 
Barton,  now  deceased  The  death  of  his  wife  was  a  severe  blow  to  one  in  whose 
nature  the  domestic  element  is  so  marked.  With  the  light  of  his  home  gone 
out,  and  with  his  life-plan  destroyed,  he  seemed  almost  paralyzed  for  a  time. 
But  the  bent  steel  of  his  intense  personality  was  sure  to  react.  The  second  year 
after  this  bereavement  he  entered  Kimball  Union  Academy,  to  pursue  a  classical 
course  under  that  distinguished  teacher.  Dr.  Cyrus  Richards.  Having  but  one 
hundred  dollars  when  he  entered,  he  was  compelled  to  teach  winters  and  to  toil 
with  his  hands  during  the  summer  vacations  ;  but  his  uncompromising  zeal  carried 
him  successfully  through  the  three  years'  course.  We  cannot  repress  our  admira- 
tion for  the  young  man  whom  neither  bereavement  nor  poverty  could  crush,  but 
who,  in  spite  of  the  most  disheartening  circumstances,  earns  the  right  to  stand 
in  the  front  rank  with  his  most  brilliant  competitors.     This  he  did. 

In  the  same  spirit,  and  still  relying  upon  his  own  exertions  for  means,  he 
entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1844,  aiid  honorably  graduated  in  1848.  His 
oration,  on  graduation,  was  highly  commended  by  the  public  journals  of  the  day. 
At  the  commencement  and  close  of  the  terms,  he  would  make  the  journeys  to 
and  from  college,  twenty-one  miles,  on  foot.  During  his  senior  year  he  studied 
law  with  Hon.  Daniel  Blaisdell  of  Hanover. 

After  graduating,  Mr.  Barton  taught  five  terms  in  the  Canaan  Academy, 
and  at  thtT  same  time  was  a  law  student  with  Judge  Kittredge.  During  this 
period  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Canaan.  In  the  early  part  of  1851  he 
left.  Canaan,  and  completed  his  legal  studies  with  Messrs.  Metcalf  &  Corbin 
of  Newport,  and  was  there  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  July  following.^  In 
1854  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hon.  Ralph  Metcalf,  which  continued 
until  Mr.  Metcalf  was  elected  governor.  He  then  became  the  law  partner  of 
Shepherd  L.  Bowers,  Esq.,  with  whom  he  was  associated  until  1859.  Notwith- 
standing his  extensive  law  practice,  Mr.  Barton  has  been  engaged,  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  in  building,  farming,  stock-raising,  and  fruit-growing.  No  man  with 
equal  means  has  contributed  more  to  the  growth  and  permanent  improvement  of 
the  village  of  Newport.  None  have  done  more  by  their  own  personal  industry 
to  convert  rouiih  fields  into  attractive  streets,  luxuriant  gardens,  and  pleasant 
homes.  Taught  from  childhood  to  cultivate  the  soil,  he  has,  all  along  through 
his  busy  life,  found  his  highest  enjoyment  in  turning  aside  from  the  turmoil  of 
professional  labors  to  the  more  genial  occupation  of  agricultural  pursuits. 

As  evidence  of  his  superior  legal  abilities,  and  of  the  public  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held,  we  point  to  the  following  record  :  He  was  register  of  deeds  for  Sul- 
livan county  from  1855  to  1857,  inclusive  ;  county  solicitor  from  1859  to  1864 ; 
representative  to  the  state  legislature  in  1863,  1864,  1875,  1876,  and  1877  ;  and 
state  senator  in  1867  and  1868.  During  all  these  seven  years  of  service  in  both 
houses,  he  was  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee,  and  for  five  years  its  chair- 
man. In  1866  he  was  chairman  of  the  board  of  commissioners  appointed  to 
audit  the  war  debt  of  the  state.  In  1876  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  revised  the  state  constitution  ;  and  was  chosen  Republican  elector  of  presi- 
dent and  vice-president  of  the  United  States.     Gov.  Harriman   appointed  him 


54  HOIST.    LEVI    WINTER   BARTON. 

bank  commissioner,  but  be  declined  tbe  office.  Gov.  Prescott  appointed  him, 
in  1877,  one  of  the  commissioners  to  revise  and  codify  the  statutes  of  New 
Hampshire. 

His  many  friends  have  fondly  hoped  to  see  him  elected  to  congress.  It  is 
conceded  that  his  abilities  and  his  fidelity  to  important  public  trusts  reveal  his 
eminent  fitness  for  such  a  position.  But  local  divisions,  for  which  he  is  in 
no  way  responsible,  have  thus  far  prevented  his  nomination.  His  name  has 
come  twice  before  the  nominating  conventions,  and  each  time  with  a  very  flat- 
tering vote. 

When  Mr.  Barton  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Newport,  he  found 
there  able  rivals  for  the  honors  of  the  profession,  whose  reputations  were  well 
established.  I  cannot  better  express  the  truth  than  to  use  the  language  of  a 
writer  who,  speaking  of  this  period  of  his  life,  says :  — 

"  The  field  seemed  to  be  fully  and  ably  occupied,  but  from  the  outset  his 
success  was  assured.  It  immediately  became  apparent  that  he  would  bring  to  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  new  position  the  same  energy  and  devotion  to 
principle  which  had  hitherto  characterized  his  actions.  From  that  time  to  the 
present,  he  has  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  public.  As  counselor,  he  is  cautious 
and  careful,  dissuading  from,  rather  than  urging  on,  litigation.  As  an  advocate, 
he  is  eloquent,  zealous,  bold,  and  persistent.  His  faithfulness  and  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  his  clients  have  often  been  a  sulyect  of  remark." 

Mr.  Barton's  legislative  experience  began  in  18G3,  that  intensely  feverish 
period  of  the  rebellion.  The  Democratic  party  was  represented  by  its  ablest 
orators  and  most  skillful  parliamentarians.  They  were  artful,  bitter,  and  des- 
perate. The  majority  could  not  afford  to  waste  or  misapply  its  resources.  Com- 
petent leadership  was  essential  to  the  utilization  of  the  Republican  strength. 
Fortunately  this  was  found.  It  came  from  the  ranks  of  the  "raw  recruits." 
Wary  and  watchful,  alert  and  forcible,  Mr.  Barton  promptly  and  successfully  met 
the  assaults  of  the  opposition,  and  sometimes  "  carried  the  war  into  Africa." 
The  house  soon  acknowledged  his  leadership,  —  a  leadership  which  he  maintained 
at  the  subsequent  sessions.  The  soldiers  will  never  forget  his  fearless  advocacy 
of  the  measure  allowing  them  to  vote  in  the  field.  This  cost  him  his  re-appoint- 
ment as  solicitor ;  but  he  was  not  the  man  to  sacrifice  so  sacred  a  principle  for 
the  loaves  and  fishes  of  office.  In  1875  and  187G  he  occupied  the  responsible 
position  of  chairman  of  the  Republican  legislative  caucus.  In  the  sessions  ot 
1876  and  1877,  the  Manchester  Mirror^  Independent  Statemcm,  and  other 
papers  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  service,  giving  him  the  credit  of  punc- 
tual attendance,  praiseworthy  diligence,  and  of  ably  championing  the  best  meas- 
ures that  were  enacted,  and  pointing  him  out  as  a  probable  candidate  for  the 
national  congress.  His  long  and  able  legislative  experience  has  never  been 
stained  by  political  corruption,  or  by  the  betrayal  of  any  moral  question.  John 
Cooper,  Esq.,  in  the  Granite  Monthly  of  May,  1879,  has  truthfully  said: 
"  Through  all  these  years  of  political  life  he  presents  a  record  without  a  blemish." 

Mr.  Barton  is  a  man  of  well  proportioned,  commanding  physique,  and  is 
well  preserved  by  temperate  living  and  total  abstinence  ft-om  all  intoxicants  and 
narcotics.  He  is  also  a  man  of  fluent  and  agreeable  speech,  of  fine  conversa- 
tional powers,  and  is  the  inspiration  of  every  social  circle  which  he  enters.  At 
home  as  well  as  abroad,  in  private  as  well  as  in  public  life,  he  is  the  invariable 
advocate  of  every  moral  and  social  reform.  He  is  an  honor  to  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, whose  ])rinciples  he  worthily  represents.  He  is  the  warm  and  helpful 
friend  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  to  which  he  belongs ;  but  he  has  an 


HON.    LEVI   WINTER   BARTON.  55 

unaffected  contempt  for  all  sectarian  narrowness.  His  sense  of  justice  is  intuitive, 
his  sympathy  quick,  and  in  its  exercise  he  regards  neither  state  nor  condition. 
The  destitute  and  forsaken  always  find  in  him  a  true  friend.  From  boyhood  he 
has  been  an  avowed  and  uncompromising  opposer  of  slavery,  and  of  whatever 
oppresses  the  masses,  whether  white  or  black.  If  he  sometimes  asserts  and  main- 
tains his  opinions  with  earnestness  and  warmth,  he  never  does  so  with  malice. 
In  the  advocacy  of  what  he  deems  to  be  just,  he  is  never  turned  aside  by  motives 
of  self-interest. 

In  1852  he  married  Miss  Lizzie  F.  Jewett,  of  Hollis,  —  a  cultured,  christian 
lady.  Her  amiability,  good  sense,  and  force  of  character  render  her  every  way 
worthy  of  her  distinguished  husband.  Their  "silver  wedding"  was  observed  in 
1877,  and  was  honored  by  a  large  circle  of  friends.  Besides  other  tokens  of 
appreciation  bestowed  at  that  time,  Hon.  Edmund  Burke  presented,  in  behalf  of 
the  donors,  an  elegant  silver  service. 

Their  children  are  Herbert  J.,  Florence  F.,  Natt  L.,  and  Jesc^  M.  The 
eldest  son,  Herbert  J.  Barton,  was  born  September  27,  1853.  He  prepared  for 
college  at  Tilton,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  the  class  of  1876.  He  has 
taught  with  great  success  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  also  for  two  years  as  principal 
in  the  Newport  high  school,  and,  still  later,  as  principal  in  the  high  school  of 
Waukegan,  111.  In  1881  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois  at  Chicago,  and 
is  now  associated  in  practice  with  his  father.  He  married,  August  21,  1877, 
Miss  Sarah  L.  Dodge,  daughter  of  Leander  F.  Dodge  of  Newport,  a  very  intel- 
ligent and  worthy  young  lady.  The  son  has  many  of  the  elements  which  have 
contributed  to  the  father's  success,  and  we  expect  his  native  state  will  hear  from 
him.  Florence  F.  graduated  from  the  Newport  high  school  in  1881,  and  is  a 
young  lady  of  fine  promise. 

In  conclusion  we  remark,  Mr.  Barton  stands  well  at  home.  Conscious  of  his 
personal  integrity  and  of  the  worthiness  of  his  aims,  his  well  earned  honors  clus- 
tering thickly  upon  him,  beloved  by  his  family  and  community,  and  cheered  by 
the  favor  of  Providence,  he  may  with  great  propriety  congratulate  himself  that 
he  has  not  lived  in  vain.  And  as  his  physical  and  intellectual  forces  seem  not  in 
the  least  abated,  we  may  fondly  hope  that  his  fellow-citizens  may  for  many  years 
to  come  enjoy  the  benefits  of  his  practical  wisdom  and  patriotic  devotion;  and  that 
his  posterity  may  as  nobly  sustain  the  name  of  Barton  as  he  has  the  names  of 
those  from  whom  he  descended. 


HON.  RODNEY  WALLACE. 


Rodney  Wallace,  of  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  was  born  in  New  Ipswich,  N.  H., 
December  21,  1823.  He  is  the  son  of  David  and  Roxanna  Wallace,  who  spent 
the  latter  years  of  life  at  Rindge  in  the  same  state. 

Whether  the  family  is  of  English  or  Scotch  origin  is  extremely  difficult  to 
decide.  If  the  orthography  of  the  last  century  is  correct,  then  it  is  English;  if 
not,  Scotch.  The  point  possesses  more  genealogical  than  real  importance.  Peo- 
ple are  free  to  change  their  names  as  they  list,  and  have  always  exercised  that 
privilege ;  and  under  either  garb  the  name  has  been  borne  by  noble  and  distin- 
guished men  in  the  Old  World. 

The  first  of  this  family  who  came  to  this  country  settled  in  Ipswich,  Mass. 
Benoni  Wallis  removed  from  this  place  to  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  and  there  married, 
on  the  2d  of  July,  1755,  Rebecca  Brown,  of  Lynn.  They  continued  to  reside  in 
Lunenburg  until  her  death,  August  25, 1790.  He  died  March  15, 1792.  David 
Wallis,  son  of  Benoni,  was  born  October  10,  1760.  He  married  Susannah  Conn, 
and  died  in  Ashburnham,  January  14,  1842.  David  Wallace,  son  of  David  and 
Susannah  (Conn)  Wallis,  was  born  in  Ashburnham,  July  14,  1797.  He  mar- 
ried, July  8,  1821,  Roxanna  Gowen,  of  New  Ipswich,  and  removed  to  Rindge  in 
1846,  where  he  died  May  29,  1857.  She  died  in  Fitchburg,  February  27,  1876. 
In  the  exercise  of  his  own  right  and  discretion,  he  restored  what  he  doubtless 
held  to  be  the  original  spelling  of  his  name,  and  always  wrote  it  Wallace. 

Rodney  Wallace,  when  twelve  years  of  age,  went  from  home  to  work  upon  a 
farm  for  the  sum  of  forty  dollars  for  the  first  year,  with  the  privilege  of  attend- 
ing school  eight  weeks  in  the  winter  ;  and  from  this  time  until  arriving  at  the  age 
of  twenty  he  worked  for  wages,  attending  school  from  eight  to  ten  weeks  in  the 
winter.  His  education  was  thus  acquired,  during  the  few  winter  months,  in  the 
common  country  schools  of  that  time.  From  the  age  of  twenty  until  his  removal 
to  Fitchburg,  he  was  employed  and  intrusted  with  business  for  the  late  Dr. 
Stephen  Jewett,  of  Rindge,  N.  H. 

In  1853  he  removed  to  Fitchburg  and  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Shepley  &  Wallace,  wholesale  dealers  in  books,  stationery,  etc.,  which  firm, 
under  this  name  and  the  name  of  R.  Wallace  &  Co.,  became  one  of  the  best 
known  firms  in  this  line  of  business  in  New  England.  After  several  years  of 
successful  management  of  that  business,  he  withdrew  from  the  firm,  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  paper,  and  connected  himself  with  several  other  manufactur- 
ing interests  in  Fitchburg.  In  whatever  interest  Mr.  Wallace  has  been  engaged, 
he  has  not  only  been  fortunate  in  its  pecuniary  issues,  but  also  in  the  speedy 
command  of  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  associates.  True  moral  principle 
has  been  united  with  unquestioned  probity,  business  tact,  and  liberal,  intelligent 
management,  and  he  is  held  in  high  estimation,  both  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  friend. 
His  usefulness  has  been  approved  by  long,  earnest,  and  efficient  service  ;  and  his 
liberality,  by  unostentatious  but  generous  donations  to  the  support  of  many  laud- 
able undertakings. 


1:7^1 


a.^c-^:^<^^^ 


HON.    RODNEY   WALLACE.  57 

In  18G5,  Mr.  Wallace  entered  into  the  business  of  manufaeturino-  paper  with 
three  other  gentlemen,  under  the  name  of  the  Fitchburg  Paper  Company.  One 
by  one  these  gentlemen  sold  their  respective  interests  to  Mr.  Wallace,  and  in  18G8 
he  became  sole  owner  of  the  entire  property.  From  that  time  until  the  present  day 
he  has  carried  on  the  business  under  the  old  firm  name  of  the  Fitchburo-  Paper 
Comiiany.  He  has,  since  he  became  sole  owner,  made  large  additions  of  land  to  the 
property,  rebuilt  the  original  mill  and  filled  it  with  the  most  improved  machinery, 
erected  a  new  mill  with  the  latest  improvements  of  every  kind,  and  built  addi- 
tional store-houses,  etc.,  until  he  has  increased  the  producing  capacity  from  two 
thousand  five  hundred  pounds  per  day,  to  sixteen  thousand  pounds  of  hanoinf, 
card,  and  glazing  paper  per  day  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  mills,  the  ampTe 
store-houses,  the  out-buildings  and  dwelling-houses  make  up  a  little  village,  want- 
ing nothing  but  distance  from  the  city  to  claim  a  name  of  its  own. 

For  the  direction  of  several  monetary'  and  corporate  interests  his  services 
have  been  frequently  sought.  He  has  been  president  and  director  of  the  Fitch- 
burg  Gas-Light  Company  since  1 864 ;  a  director  of  the  Fitchburg  National  Bank 
since  1866  ;  partner  in  the  Fitchburg  Woolen  Mill.  Company,  witli  the  Hon.  Wm. 
H.^  Vose  and  Hon.  Rufus  S.  Frost,  since  1867  ;  a  director  of  the  Putnam  Ma- 
chine Company  since  1864  ;  and  has  just  been  chosen  director  of  the  Parkhill  Man- 
ufacturing Company,  recently  organized  for  the  manufacture  of  ginghams.  For 
several  years  he  has  been  a  trustee  of  the  Fitchburg  Savings  Bank,  a  director  of 
the  Fitchburg  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company,"  president  of  the  Fitchburo- 
Board  of  Trade  (four  years),  a  director  of  the  Fitchburg  Railroad  Company,  and 
a  trustee  of  Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass. 

Though  thoroughly  patriotic  and  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  current 
issues,  the  magnitude  of  the  private  and  corporate  interests  committed  to  his  care 
would  not  permit  the  alienation  of  close  personal  attention  from  them  to  political 
matters,  and  whatever  offices  he  has  held  have  sought  him,  instead  of  his 
seeking  them. 

He  was  a  selectman  in  the  years  1864,  1865,  and  1867,  and  a  representative  to 
the  general  court  in  1874,  but  declined  a  re-election  the  following  year,  on  account 
of  ill  health.  He  was  a  member  of  the  governor's  council  in  1880  and  1881, 
and  has  just  been  re-elected  to  serve  in  the  same  position  the  present  year. 

Mr.  Wallace  was  married,  on  the  1st  of  December,  1853,  to  Sophia,  younsest 
daughter  of  Thomas  Ingalls,  Esq.,  of  Riudge.  She  died  June  20,  1871,  leaving 
two  sons.  The  eldest,  Herbert  I.,  born  February  17,  1856,  is  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  class  of  1877;  and  the  younger,  George  R.,  obtained  his  educa- 
tion in  the  Fitchburg  high  school,  and  a  two  years'  special  course  in  the  Institute 
of  Technology,  Boston.  They  are  both  now  with  their  father.  Mr.  Wallace  mar- 
ried, for  his  second  wife,  Sophia  F.  Bailey,  of  Woodstock,  Vt.,  on  the  28th  day 
of  December,  1876. 


GEN.  SIMON  G.  GRIFFIN, 


BY    REV.    A.    B.    CRAWFORD. 


Gen.  Griffin  was  born  in  Nelson,  N.  H.,  on  the  9th  of  August,  1824. 
His  ancestors,  as  far  back  as  they  can  be  traced,  were  prominent  men  in  the 
communities  where  they  lived,  gifted  with  more  than  ordinary  intellect  and  force 
of  character. 

His  grandfather,  Samuel  Griffin,  Escj^.,  came  from  Methuen,  Mass.,  soon  after 
the  Revolutionary  war,  married  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Jacob  Foster,  at  that  time 
the  settled  minister  at  "  Packersfield,"  now  Nelson,  and  took  up  his  residence  in 
that  town.  His  superior  abilities  soon  brought  him  forward  to  fill  responsible 
positions,  and  for  many  years  he  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature,  and 
held  the  highest  town  offices.  Both  he  and  the  General's  maternal  grandfather, 
Nehemiah  Wright,  were  patriot  soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  both 
were  present  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

His  father,  Nathan  Griffin,  was  equally  gifted  with  the  earlier  progenitors  of 
the  race ;  but,  losing  his  health  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  the  care  of  rearing 
the  family  of  seven  children  fell  upon  the  mother.  Her  maiden  name  was  Sally 
Wright,  —  one  of  the  loveliest  of  her  sex,  both  in  person  and  character,  —  and 
the  General  owes  much  to  her  wise  counsels  and  careful  training.  She  died 
recently,  at  the  age  of  ninety-four,  in  the  full  possession  of  her  mental  faculties. 

When  but  six  years  of  age,  in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  his  father,  the 
boy  was  sent  to  live  for  some  years  with  his  uncle,  Gen.  Samuel  Griffin,  of  Rox- 
bury,  N.  H.  He,  too,  had  a  decided  talent  for  military  affairs,  had  been  a  volun- 
teer in  the  war  of  1812,  was  prominent  in  the  state  militia,  and  was  fond  of 
repeating  the  military  histories  and  descriptions  of  battles  and  campaigns  that  he 
had  read,  thus  producing  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  lad. 
But  never,  after  he  was  seven  years  old,  could  the  boy  be  spared  from  work  on 
the  farm  to  attend  school  during  summer.  Ten  or  twelve  weeks  each  winter  at 
the  district  school  was  all  the  "  schooling  "  he  ever  had ;  but  his  leisure  hours 
were  spent  in  reading  and  study,  and,  in  spite  of  his  want  of  advantages,  at 
eighteen  years  of  age  he  began  to  teach  with  marked  success.  He  had  also  read 
much  history,  and  the  lives  of  the  great  military  chieftains  of  ancient  and 
modern  times ;  and  thus  by  inheritance,  and  by  his  early  training  and  reading, 
he  had  become  unconsciously  fitted  for  the  special  work  before  him,  and  had 
cultivated  the  patriotic  spirit  and  ability  for  military  affairs  which  have  won  for 
him  an  honorable  place  among  the  distinguished  soldiers  of  our  state,  and  made 
him,  as  confessed  on  all  sides,  one  of  the  best  volunteer  officers  in  the  war  of 
the  rebellion. 

Continuing  his  studies  while  teaching  winters  and  working  on  the  farm  sum- 
mers, he  mastered  all  the  higher  English  branches  usually  taught  in  colleges, 
studied  Latin  and  French,  and  went  through  a  large  amount  of  miscellaneous 
reading.  In  1850  he  married  Ursula  J.,  daughter  of  Jason  Harris,  Esq.,  of 
Nelson ;  but  soon  after  the  birth  of  a  son,  the  following  year,  both  mother  and 


/llU^,  "^^Zk^^yTt^/l/Z.'J/A^ '^ ^^ 


GEN.    SIMON     G.    GRIPriN.  59 

son  died.  Returning  to  his  former  occupation  of  teaching,  he  took  up  the  study 
of  law,  and  while  thus  engaged  represented  his  native  town  two  years  in  the  leg- 
islature, serving  the  second  term  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  education. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1800,  and  had  just  begun  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Concord  when  the  war  broke  out.  Throwing  aside  his  law-books, 
he  took  up  the  study  of  military  tactics,  joined  a  company  then  forming  at  Con- 
cord, under  the  first  call  for  troops, —  volunteering  as  a  private,  but  when  it  came 
to  organization  was  chosen  captain,  —  and  finding  the  quota  of  New  Hampshire 
full  under  the  first  call,  immediately  volunteered,  with  a  large  number  of  his 
men,  for  three  years  or  the  war,  under  the  second  call.  Recruiting  his  company 
to  the  maximum,  he  joined  the  Second  Regiment  at  Portsmouth,  was  mustered 
into  the  United  States  service  in  June,  1861,  and  commanded  his  company  at 
the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  handling  it  with  coolness  and  bravery,  although  it 
was  under  a  sharp  fire,  and  lost  twelve  men,  killed  and  wounded.  It  was  the 
celebrated  "  Goodwin  Rifles,"  Co.  B,  2d  N.  H.  Vols.,  armed  with  Sharp's  rifles, 
by  the  exertions  of  Capt.  Griffin  and  his  friends, —  the  only  company  sent  from 
the  state  armed  with  breech-loaders. 

In  1861  he  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  6th  N.  H.  Vols., 
and  joined  that  regiment  at  its  rendezvous  in  Keene.  The  regiment  was  assigned 
to  Burnside's  expedition  to  North  Carolina,  and  landed  at  Hatteras  island  in 
January,  1862.  In  March  it  removed  to  Roanoke  island,  and  on  the  7th  of 
April,  Lieut. -Col.  Griffin  was  sent  in  command  of  an  expedition,  composed  of  six 
hundred  men  with  five  gunboats,  to  break  up  a  rebel  rendezvous  near  Elizabeth 
City,  N.  C.  Landing  at  daybreak  the  next  morning,  he  attacked  and  broke  up 
the  camp,  capturing  seventy-four  prisoners,  three  hundred  and  fifty  stands  of 
arms,  and  a  quantity  of  ammunition.  On  the  19th  of  April,  at  the  battle  of 
Camden,  N.  C,  he  commanded  his  regiment,  which  formed  the  reserve.  At  the 
critical  moment  he  moved  it  forward  in  line  of  battle,  within  short  musket  range, 
halted  the  line,  gave  the  command  to  fire,  and  the  regiment  poured  in  a  volley 
with  wonderful  coolness  and  precision.  The  enemy  broke  and  fled,  and  the  battle 
was  won. 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1862,  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the  regiment. 
Assigned  to  Reno's  division,  which  was  sent  to  aid  Pope  in  Virginia,  he  com- 
manded his  regiment  at  the  second  Bull  Run,  where  it  was  ordered,  with  its 
brigade,  to  attack  the  enemy  in  a  piece  of  wood.  Forcing  their  way  for  some 
distance,  they  received  a  murderous  fire  in  front  and  from  the  left  flank  and 
rear.  Thinking  it  must  be  friends  firing  into  them  by  mistake,  Col.  Griffin  took 
the  colors  and  waved  them  in  that  direction,  but  the  fire  only  came  the  sharper ; 
and  finding  himself  nearly  surrounded  by  an  immense  force,  and  deserted  by  the 
other  regiments,  he  gave  the  order  to  retreat,  and  brought  off"  the  remnant  of  his 
men,  bearing  the  colors  himself. 

At  the  battles  of  Chantilly  and  South  Mountain  he  commanded  his  regiment; 
and  at  Antietam,  after  one  attempt  to  carry  the  bridge  in  front  of  Burnside  had 
been  made  and  failed.  Col.  Griffin  was  ordered  to  make  the  assault  with  his  own 
regiment  and  the  Second  Maryland.  The  charge  was  gallantly  made,  but  the 
approaches  were  difficult,  the  enemy's  fire  destructive,  and  the  column  was 
checked ;  but  re-enforcements  were  brought  up,  and  the  bridge  was  carried,  and 
the  Sixth  New  Hampshire,  with  Col.  Griffin  at  its  head,  was  the  first  to  plant  its 
colors  on  the  heights  beyond.  For  gallantry  in  this  action  he  was  recommended 
for  promotion  to  brigadier-general.  At  Fredericksburg  he  commanded  his  regi- 
ment, which  again  suff"ered  severely  in  the  assault  on  the  heights.  Soon  after 
that  battle  he  obained  a  leave  of  absence,  and  was  married  to  Margaret  R. 
Lamson,  of  Keene,  N.  H.,  with  whom  he  is  still  living,  and  by  whom  he  has 
two  sons. 


60  GEN.    SIMON    G.    GRIFFIN. 

Early  in  the  year  1863,  the  ninth  corps  was  transferred  to  the  department  of 
Ohio,  and  Col.  Griffin  was  placed  in  command  of  the  second  brigade,  second 
division,  serving  in  Kentucky.  From  there  the  first  and  sectnd  divisions  were 
sent  to  aid  Grant  at  Vicksburg ;  and,  upon  the  fall  of  that  city,  Sherman  moved 
upon  Jackson,  Miss.,  the  capital  of  the  state,  driving  Johnston  before  him. 
While  approaching  the  town.  Col.  Griffin  was  at  one  time  in  command  of  the 
advanced  line,  consisting  of  three  brigades,  when  a  sharp  attack  was  made  by  the 
enemy,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  with  a  view  to  breaking  our  lines  by 
surprise,  but  was  repulsed  with  considerable  loss.  Returning  to  Kentucky,  he 
took  command  of  the  second  division,  and  marched  over  the  Cumberland  mount- 
ains, joining  Gen.  Burnside  at  Knoxville.  Several  regiments  of  the  corps  had 
been  lelt  in  Kentucky,  and  Col.  Griffin  was  sent  to  conduct  them  forward  to 
Knoxville.  Before  they  had  started  on  the  march,  however,  Kentucky  itself  was 
threatened  with  raids,  in  consequence  of  our  defeat  at  Chickamauga,  and  Col. 
Griffin  and  his  troops  were  retained  for  the  defense  of  that  state.  While  on  that 
duty  his  regiment  re-enlisted  for  three  years,  or  the  war;  and  in  January,  1864, 
he  was  ordered  with  it  to  Covington,  Ky.,  where  they  were  remustered  into  the 
United  States  service,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  New  Hampshire  on  their 
thirty  days'  furlough,  granted  by  the  terms  of  re-enlistment. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  the  ninth  corps  re-assembled  at  Annapolis,  under 
Gen.  Burnside,  and  Col.  Griffin  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  second 
brigade,  second  division.  On  the  5th  of  May  the  corps  joined  the  army  of  the 
Potomac,  on  the  Bapidan,  and  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  6th,  Col. 
Griffin  was  sent  with  his  brigade  to  attack  the  enemy,  and  later  in  the  day  made 
a  brilliant  charge  in  repelling  an  attack  made  on  the  second  corps.  At  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court- House,  May  12,  Gen.  Hancock  made  the  assault  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Griffin  occupied  the  right  of  the  ninth  corps,  on  the  left  of  Han- 
c(-ck,  though  some  distance  from  him,  with  orders  to  support  that  officer. 
Promptly  at  four  o'clock  Griffin  advanced  with  his  brigade  in  line  of  battle,  and 
made  directly  for  the  point  of  attack  indicated  by  the  sound  of  Hancock's  guns. 
As  he  approached,  he  galloped  forward  to  see  just  where  to  make  the  connection. 
Passing  out  of  a  wood  into  an  open  field,  he  found  Hancock's  troops  wild  with 
excitement  over  their  success,  but  with  organizations  completely  broken  up  by 
the  charge  they  had  made.  Looking  across  a  valley  to  a  slope  beyond,  he  saw  a 
laro-e  force  of  rebels  advancing  rapidly  to  make  a  counter  attack.  Hastening 
back  to  his  command,  he  brought  it  forward  into  position  just  in  time  to  take 
that  advancing  column  in  front  and  flank  with  a  destructive  fire.  Other  brigades 
came  up  and  formed  on  his  left,  and  for  five  hours  a  terrific  fire  was  kept  up,  and 
the  furious  onslaught  of  three  Confederate  divisions  was  repulsed.  The  loss  on 
each  side  was  fearful,  but  Hancock's  corps,  and  possibly  the  army,  was  saved 
from  being  swept  away,  and  a  victory  was  won.  By  this  gallant  act  Col.  Griffin 
"  won  his  star,"  being  made  a  brigadier-general  of  volunteers  by  President 
Lincoln,  on  the  recommendation  of  Generals  Burnside  and  Grant,  and  confirmed 
by  the  senate  without  debate,  reference,  or  a  dissenting  vote. 

On  tlie  18th  he  made  a  reconnoissance  with  his  brigade,  and  handled  it  with 
coolness  and  skill  in  the  fights  of  North  Anna,  Tolopotomy  Creek,  Bethesda 
Church,  and  Cold  Harbor.  On  the  arrival  of  the  army  in  front  of  Petersburg, 
June  15,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  two  brigades,  and  made  a  skillful 
attack  on  the  enemy's  advanced  lines  at  daylight  next  morning,  capturing  one 
thousand  prisoners,  fifteen  hundred  stands  of  arms,  four  pieces  of  artillery,  with 
'  caissons,  horses,  and  ammunition,  and  opening  the  way  into  Petersburg  had  sup- 
ports been  ready  in  time.  At  the  battle  of  the  "Mine"  he  commanded  his 
brigade,  and  did  every  thing  that  could  be  done  in  his  place  to  insure  success ; 
also  at  the  Weldon  llailroad,  Poplar  Grove  Church,  and  Hatcher's  Run. 


GEN.  SIMON   Q.  GmrriN.  61 

At  the  final  breaking  of  the  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg-,  on  the  2d  of  April, 

1865,  after  charging  the  enemy's  picket  line  and  capturing  two  hundred  and 
forty-nine  prisoners  during  the  night  previous,  he  formed  his  brigade  near  Fort 
Sedgwick,  in  column  by  regiments,  with  three  com]  awies  of  picneers  in  front 
armed  only  with  axes  to  cut  away  the  ahah's.  Just  at  daybreak,  at  a  precon- 
certed signal,  in  connection  with  Gen.  Hartranft  on  his  right  and  Col.  Curtin  on 
his  left,  he  led  his  column  to  the  charge.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  coolness 
and  intrepidity  with  which  officers  and  men  pressed  forward  under  a  terrific  fire 
of  grape,  canister,  and  musketry ;  for  our  artillery  had  opened  and  given  the 
enemy  warning.  Tearing  away  the  ahatis,  they  dashed  over  the  parapet,  seized 
the  guns,  captured  hundreds  of  prisoners,  and  held  the  line.  The  loss  was 
frightful,  but  the  backbone  of  the  rebellion  was  broken  ;  and  when  the  news  of 
the  assault  reached  Richmond,  on  that  Sunday  morning,  Jeffersrn  Davis  crept 
out  of  church  and  stole  away,  a  fugitive ;  and  Petersburg  and  Eichmcnd  were 
occupied  by  our  troops  next  morning.  For  gallantry  in  that  action  Gen.  Griffin 
was  brevetted  a  major-general  of  volunteers,  and  succeeded  to  the  command  of 
the  second  division,  ninth  corps,  holding  that  position  till  the  close  of  the  war. 
with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  while  he  was  president  of  an  examining  board 
of  officers  at  Washington.  He  joined  in  pursuit  of  the  rebel  forces,  and  his 
division  formed  a  part  of  the  column  that  encompassed  Lee  and  com- 
pelled him  to  surrender.  Returning  with  the  army  and  encamping  at  Alexandria, 
be  led  his  division  in  the  Grand  Review,  on  the  23d  of  May;  and  when  the  last 
regiment  of  his  command  had  been  mustered  out,  he  also,  in  August,  1865,  was 
mustered  out  of  the  service  of  the  United  States. 

Gen.  Griffin's  service  had  been  a  most  honorable  one.  Brave,  able,  and 
patriotic,  he  was  always  in  demand  at  the  front,  and  his  service  was  of  the  most 
arduous  kind.  He  took  an  active  part  in  twenty-two  great  battles,  besides  being 
engaged  in  numberless  smaller  fights  and  skirmishes,  and  his  troops  were  never 
under  fire,  or  made  a  march  of  any  importance,  except  with  him  to  lead  them. 
Yet  he  never  received  a  scratch,  although  he  had  seven  ball-holes  through  his 
clothes,  and  had  two  horses  killed  and  five  wounded  under  him  in  action ;  and  he 
never  lost  a  day's  duty  from  sickness,  —  the  result,  no  doubt,  of  temperate  habits. 
As  an  example  of  the  severity  of  his  service  in  Grant's  campaign  of  1864,  he 
left  Alexandria  with  six  regiments,  reporting  twenty-.seven  hundred  fighting  men. 
At  the  close  of  the  campaign  he  bad  lost  three  thousand  men,  killed  and 
wounded, —  three  hundred  more  than  bis  whole  number,  —  new  regiments  having 
been  assigned  to  him,  and  the  older  ones  filled  up  with  recruits. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  government  appointed  him  a  field  officer  in  one  of 
the  regiments  in  the  regular  army ;  but  he  had  no  desire  for  the  life  of  a  soldier 
when  his  country  no  longer  needed  his  services,  and  he  declined  the  ofi'er.     In 

1866,  1867,  and  1868,  he  represented  Keene  in  the  New  Hampshire  state  legis- 
lature, serving  the  last  two  years  as  speaker  of  the  house,  which  position  he  filled 
with  marked  ability,  showing  rare  talent  as  a  presiding  officer.  In  January, 
1866,  he  presided  over  the  Republican  state  convention  ;  and  Dartmouth  College 
that  year  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  causa  honorig.  In 
1871  he  was  nominated  for  congress  by  the  Republicans  of  the  third  district, 
but  the  opposition  carried  the  state  that  year,  and.  although  making  a  good  run, 
he  was  defeated  by  a  few  votes.  Renominated  in  1873,  he  was  again  defeated 
by  a  small  majority. 

The  habits  of  .study  so  diligently  cultivated  by  Gen,  Griffin  in  youth  have 
never  been  laid  aside,  but  are  still  kept  up  in  the  midst  of  an  active  and  busy  life, 
he  being  engaged  in  large  enterprises  in  the  South  and  West.  As  a  public 
speaker  he  is  able,  graceful,  and  convincing,  and  his  work  always  shows  thorough 


62  GEN.    SIMON     G.    GRIFFIN. 

preparation,  correct  taste,  and  sound  judgment.  In  a  book  of  Garfield's  speeclies, 
with  a  short  sketch  of  his  life,  published  by  a  firm  in  St.  Louis,  a  few  memorial 
addresses,  selected  as  the  best  delivered  in  the  country,  are  inserted  as  a  supple- 
ment, and  Gen.  Griffin's,  delivered  at  Keene,  and  the  same  day  at  Marlborough, 
is  found  among  them. 

In  his  home,  where  he  is  cordially  seconded  by  Mrs.  Griffin,  there  is  a  tender 
and  affectionate  union  of  the  members,  a  courteous  hospitality,  a  library  rich 
in  choice  books  which  are  read  and  known,  and  all  the  comforts  and  enjoy- 
ments of  a  true  New  England  home ;  and  from  that  home  abundant  good  works 
go  out  that  make  for  the  well-being  of  a  community. 


COL.  DAVID  LYMAN  JEWELL. 


BY    J.    N.    MCCLINTOCK. 


The  chief  industry  of  the  flourishing  village  of  Suncook  is  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  cloth.  The  China,  the  Webster,  and  the  Pembroke  mills  are  three 
great  establishments  under  one  management,  built  on  the  banks  of  the  Suncook 
river,  and  operated  principally  by  its  power,  where  this  class  of  goods  is  made. 
About  these  mills,  which  give  steady  employment  to  over  fifteen  hvmdred  opera- 
tives, has  grown  up  a  substantial  village,  with  fine  public  buildings,  spacious 
stores,  elegant  private  residences,  and  long  blocks  of  neat  tenement-houses,  inhab- 
ited by  a  liberal  and  public-spirited  class  of  citizens,  and  governed  by  a  wise  and 
judicious  policy  which  renders  this  community  comfortable,  attractive,  and  law- 
abiding.  The  man  to  whose  clear  head  and  skillful  hand  is  intrusted  the  man- 
agement of  this  great  corporation,  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  village  of 
Suncook,  is  a  genial  gentleman  of  forty-five.  Col.  David  L.  Jewell,  a  brief 
outline  of  whose  life  it  is  m}^  purpose  to  sketch. 

David  Lyjian  Jewell,  son  of  Bradbury  and  Lucinda  ( Chapman )  Jewell, 
was  born  in  Tamworth,  N.  H.,  January  26,  1837.  In  the  midst  of  the  grandest 
scenery  of  New  England,  under  the  shadows  of  the  Ossipee  mountains,  and 
in  view  of  bold  Chocorua,  our  friend  was  ushered  to  this  earthly  pilgrimage. 
Colonel  Jewell  is  a  descendant  of  Mark  Jewell,  who  was  born  in  the  north  of 
Devonshire,  England,  in  the  year  1724,  and  died  in  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  the  19th 
of  February,  1787.  He  descended  from  the  same  original  stock  as  Bishop  John 
Jewell  of  Devonshire. 

Mark  Jewell  came  to  this  country  in  174o,  married,  and  located  in  Durham 
this  state;  he  was  the  father  of  three  sons,  Mark,  Jr.,  Bradbury,  and  John. 
Mark,  Jr.,  was  the  first  white  man  that  settled  in  Tamworth.  in  1772,  on  what  is 
now  called  ''  Stevenson's  Hill,"  removing  soon  after  to  "  Birch  Intervale,"  as 
known  at  the  present  time.  He  married  Ruth  Yittum.  of  Sandwich,  in  1776; 
they  were  the  parents  of  sixteen  children.  He  was  prominent  in  all  town  aifairs, 
and  sometimes  preached,  and  was  familiarly  called  among  his  fellow-townsmen 
"Elder"  or  ''Priest"  Jewell.  Bradbury,  son  of  Elder  Jewell,  married  Mary 
Chapman  in  1806,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Bradbury  and  David. 

Bradbury  Jewell,  a  pupil  of  Samuel  Hidden,  was  a  teacher  of  considerable 
note,  and  his  memory  is  tenderly  cherished  to-day  by  many  of  his  pupils  through- 
out the  state.  While  engaged  in  teaching  he  pursued  a  course  of  medical  studies, 
and  in  1839,  having  completed  them,  collected  his  worldly  goods  and  removed  to 
Newmarket,  a  place  presenting  a  larger  field  for  practice.  There  he  commenced 
in  earnest  his  chosen  profession  ;  but,  being  of  a  delicate  constitution,  the  expos- 
ure incident  to  a  physician's  life  soon  told  upon  his  limited  strength  ;  he  was 
taken  sick,  and  died  "  ere  the  sun  of  his  life  had  reached  its  meridian,"  leaving 
his  widow,  with  two  little  children,  in  indigent  circumstances,  to  combat  with  a 
cold   and  selfish  world.     A  wealthy  merchant  of  the  place,  having  no   children, 


64  COL.    DAVID     LYMAN    JEWELL. 

wished  to  adopt  young  David,  offering  to  give  him  a  college  education  and  leave 
him  heir  to  his  worldly  possessions ;  but  with  a  mother's  love  for  her  offspring 
Mrs.  Jewell  refused  the  offer,  and  resolved  to  rear  and  educate  her  children  as 
well  as  her  limited  means  would  allow.  Being  a  woman  of  undaunted  spirit,  she 
opened  a  boarding-house  for  factory  operatives,  when  factory  girls  were  the  intel- 
lio-ent  daughters  of  New  England  farmers,  who  regarded  this  new  industry  a 
most  favorable  opportunity  for  honorable  employment. 

Having  brothers  in  Massachusetts,  and  thinking  to  better  sustain  herself  and 
children,  Mrs.  Jewell  removed  to  Newton  Upper  Falls,  Mass.,  following  the  same 
occupation  there.  In  that  village  young  Jewell  first  attended  school,  the  teacher 
of  which  was  a  former  pupil  of  his  father.  To  render  his  mother  more  substan- 
tial assistance  than  he  could  afford  her  by  doing  irksome  chores,  he  went  to  Avork 
in  the  factory  when  but  nine  years  of  age,  receiving  for  a  day's  work,  from 
quarter  of  five  in  the  morning  until  half  past  seven  in  the  evening,  t!<e  very 
munificent  sum  of  sixteen  cents  a  day,  or  one  dollar  a  week.  He  worked  nine 
months  and  attended  school  three,  every  year,  until  he  was  nearly  thirteen  years 
of  age,  when  the  close  confinement  was  found  detrimental  to  his  health,  and 
he  was  taken  from  the  mill  and  placed  on  a  farm.  The  next  three  years  he 
passed  in  healthful,  happy,  out-door  work.  Returning  home  from  the  farm 
strong,  robust,  and  vigorous,  he  re-entered  the  mill,  where  he  was  variously  occu- 
pied, becoming  familiar  with  the  operations  of  the  numerous  machines  in  each 
d3partmc;nt,  but  more  particularly  those  pertaining  to  the  carding-room,  where  his 
step-father,  Thomas  Truesdell,  was  an  overseer,  learning  as  he  pursued  his  work, 
gradually  and  insensibly,  things  that  to-day  are  of  incalculable  benefit  for  the 
business  in  which  he  is  now  engaged.  He  little  thought,  however,  when  moving 
his  stool  Irom  place  to  place  in  order  to  facilitate  his  labor,  he  would  some  day 
be  at  the  head  of  similar  works  many  times  greater  in  magnitude  than  those  in 
which  he  was  then  employed.  His  inherited  mechanical  taste  developed  by  his 
life  among  machinery,  and  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age  he  gladly  entered 
a  machine-shop.  Here  his  ready  perception  of  form  rendered  his  work  attractive 
and  his  improvement  rapid. 

Before  completing  his  apprenticeship  he  felt  keenly  the  want  of  a  better  edu- 
cation, and  determined  to  obtain  it.  His  exchequer  was  very  low,  but  having 
the  confidence  of  friends  he  readily  obtained  a  loan,  and  in  the  spring  of  1855 
he  entered  the  Wesleyan  Academy  at  Wilbraham,  Mass.  The  principal,  after  a 
casual  examination,  said:  "Well,  you  don't  know  much,  do  you?"  Being  quick 
at  repartee  young  Jewell  replied  :  "  No,  sir;  if  I  did,  I  would  not  be  here."  This 
brief  sip  at  the  fountain  of  knowledge  only  increased  his  thirst  for  more,  and  in 
September  of  the  same  year  he  entered  the  state  normal  school  at  Bridgewater, 
Mass.,  under  the  regime  of  Marshall  Conant,  a  life-long  friend  and  counselor. 
Mr.  Jewell  from  the  first  was  a  favorite  among  his  class-mates,  —  courteous, 
genial,  pleasant  in  disposition,  something  careless  withal ;  physically  vigorous,  and 
always  the  first  at  athletic  sports  when  relieved  from  study.  Mathematics,  of 
which  he  was  very  fond,  and  natural  philosophy  were  his  favorite  branches  of 
study,  and  free-hand  drawing  his  delight,  as  slates,  book-covers,  and  albums 
attested.  While  in  school  he  made  rapid  advancemcsnt  in  knowledge,  and  grad- 
uated in  the  spring  of  1857,  having  acquired,  as  his  diploma  reads,  "  a  very  credit- 
able degree  of  knowledge  of  the  several  branches  taught  therein.  Besides  these 
attainments,  Mr.  Jewell  possesses  a  tact  and  skill  for  rapid  sketching  and  delinea- 
tion which  give  life  to  his  blackboard  illustrations." 

To  show  the  forethought  possessed  by  him  in  a  marked  degree,  before  grad- 
uating he  had  secured  a  school  to  teach  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  day  after  the 
closing  exercises  were  over  he  started  for  his  new  field  of  labor.     He  taught  with 


COL.    DAVID     LYMAN     JEWELL.  Q5 

<i,reat  success  in  New  Jersey  and  also  in  New  York,  some  three  years.  One 
school  of  which  he  was  principal  numbered  three  hundred  scholars,  and  employed 
five  assistant  teachers,  most  of  whom  were  his  seniors  in  years.  Like  his  father, 
he  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  teacher,  and  his  credentials  speak  of  him 
in  the  highest  terms,  as  a  competent,  faithful,  and  pleasing  instructor,  and  a  most 
excellent  disciplinarian.  One  superintendent  of  schools  remarks  :  "  He  was  the 
Ijest  teacher  that  has  been  employed  in  the  town  for  thirty  years." 

While  engaged  in  teaching,  Mr.  Jewell  pursued  a  course  of  study  in  engi- 
neering and  surveying,  and  finally  determined  to  follow  engineering  as  a  profession. 
He  gave  up  school-teaching,  left  the  -'foreign  shores  of  Jersey"  and  entered  the 
office  of  11.  Morris  Copeland  and  C.  W.  Folsom,  of  Boston.  His  first  work  was 
the  resurvey  of  Cambridgeport.  He  afterwards  worked  in  Dorchester  and  on 
Narragausett  bay.  But  this  new  occupation  had  just  been  engaged  in  when 
"  the  shot  heard  round  the  world  "  was  fired  on  Sumter,  and  the  tocsin  of  war 
sounded  the  alarm.  Surveying,  like  all  other  business,  came  to  a  stand-still ;  the 
compass  was  changed  for  a  musket,  distances  measured  by  the  steady  tramp  of 
the  soldiery,  and  the  weary  flagman  became  the  lonely  sentinel. 

About  this  time  the  owners  of  the  Pembroke  mill  and  property  connected 
therewith,  in  Pembroke  and  Allenstown,  N.  H-,  decided  to  increase  their  busi- 
ness by  building  a  new  mill  twice  the  capacity  of  the  one  then  owned  by  them. 
Knowing  Mr.  Jewell  to  be  a  good  draughtsman,  having  employed  him  during 
the  construction  of  the  Pembroke  mill,  they  again  engaged  him  for  like  duties. 
Consulting  with  their  then  resident  agent,  he  prepared  the  required  working 
plans  and  drawings  for  the  Webster  mill.  The  work  on  the  building  was  soon 
under  way  and  rapidly  pushed  to  completion.  While  thus  engaged  the  agent  at 
Newton  died,  and  the  immediate  care  of  the  mills  was  given  to  Mr.  Jewell  until 
(as  the  treasurer  said)  he  could  find  the  right  man. 

Finishing  his  work  at  Suncook,  and  having  conducted  the  aflairs  of  the  com- 
pany at  Newton  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner,  the  treasurer  tendered  him  the 
agency  of  the  mills.  In  accepting  the  position,  his  career  as  agent  began  where, 
fifteen  years  before,  he  commenced  the  work  that  fitted  him  so  thoroughly  for 
the  successful  management  of  the  same.  The  mills  were  in  a  bad  condition,  the 
machinery  old,  and  "run  down,"  and  the  owners  impatient  and  anxious.  Nothing 
daunted,  however,  Mr.  Jewell  entered  heartily  into  the  business,  making  such 
changes  that  at  the  time  he  tendered  his  resignation  he  had  doubled  the  produc- 
tion, and  greatly  improved  the  quality  of  the  goods  manufactured.  Looms  built 
more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and  improved  by  Mr.  Jewell,  are  still  running  and 
producing  nearly  as  many  yards  per  day,  and  of  as  good  quality,  as  those  made 
at  the  present  time.  These  mills  were  run  throughout  the  war,  paying  for  cotton 
as  high  as  one  dollar  a  pound,  and  selling  the  cloth  for  thirty-five  cents  a  yard. 
Mr.  Jewell  was  very  anxious  to  enlist  during  the  exciting  times  of  war,  but 
was  prevailed  upon  by  the  owners  to  continue  in  charge  of  their  works,  and  by 
the  entreaties  of  his  wife,  who  was  hopelessly  ill,  to  remain  at  her  side. 

The  treasurer  and  part  owner  of  the  mills  at  Newton  Upper  Falls  was  also 
treasurer  and  large  owner  of  the  mills  at  Suncook.  In  1865  the  Suncook  com- 
pany agitated  the  subject  of  enlarging  their  works  by  the  addition  of  another 
mill,  and  in  18G7  active  operations  were  commenced  upon  the  China  mill,  which 
was,  when  completed,  the  largest  works  of  the  kind  contained  under  one  roof  in 
the  state.  Mr.  Jewell  again  fulfilled  the  office  of  engineer  and  draughtsman. 
The  company's  agent  at  Suncook,  wishing  to  devote  his  time  exclusively  to  the 
construction  of  the  new  mill,  desired  that  Mr.  Jewell  come  from  Newton  several 
days  each  week  to  look  after  the  manufacturing  in  the  two  mills.  Thus  for 
more  than  two  years  he  acted  as  agent  at  Newton,  also  as  superintendent  of  the 
Webster  and  Pembroke  mills. 


66  COL.    DAVID    LYMA:N-    JEWELL. 

In  1870,  before  the  China  mill  had  fairly  commenced  operations,  the  agent 
resigned  his  position.  Mr.  Jewell,  having  at  Newton  proved  diligent,  faithful, 
and  capable,  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  Resigning  his  position  at  Newton  he 
removed  with  his  family  to  Suncook,  and  assumed  the  management  of  the  trium- 
virate corporation,  June  1,  1870.  Again  he  was  obliged  to  go  through  nearly 
the  same  routine  as  at  Newton.  The  machinery,  however,  was  more  modern,  but 
had  been  neglected,  supplies  scantily  distributed,  and  the  power  was  inadequate 
to  the  demand.  With  indomitable  perseverance  he  has  remedied  the  defects,  by 
providing  reservoirs,  more  thoroughly  utilizing  the  water  power,  adding  new  and 
valuable  improvements,  putting  in  powerful  steam  apparatus  capable  of  running 
during  the  most  severe  drought.  He  has  increased  the  annual  product  from 
twelve  million  yards  in  1874  to  twenty-seven  million  yards  in  1880,  with  sub- 
stantially the  same  machinery,  showing  what  tireless  perseverance  and  devotion 
to  duty  can  accomplish. 

Mr.  Jewell  is  one  of  the  directors  in  the  China  Savings  Bank,  Suncook.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  New  P]ngland  Cotton  Manufacturers'  Association,  and  of 
the  New  Hampshire  club.  Mr.  Jewell  was  honored  by  being  appointed  aide-de- 
camp, with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  Governor  Head's  staif,  and  smilingly  speaks 
of  turning  out  officially  more  times  than  any  one  of  the  other  members.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Governor  Head  Staff  Association,  an  active  member  of  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  Boston,  a  member  of  the  Amos- 
keag  Veterans  of  Manchester,  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Veterans'  Asso- 
ciation, and  an  honorary  member  of  the  old  Twelfth  New  Hampshire  regiment. 
He  was  elected  captain  of  the  Jewell  Rifles,  named  in  his  honor,  but  graciously 
declined,  and  was  made  an  honorary  member.  The  IMasonic  fraternity  also  claims 
him,  being  an  active  member  of  the  "  Jewell  "  Lodge,  Suncook,  also  named  in  his 
honor,  and  of  the  Trinity  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  Horace  Chase  Council  R.  and 
S.  M.,  and  Mount  Horeb  Commandry,  Concord,  N.  H.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Council,  having  taken  all  the  Scottish  rites  up  to  the  33d  degree,  and  is 
an  active  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Consistory  S.'.  P.*.  R.'.  S.'.  32d  degree, 
Boston,  and  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  River  Valley  Association. 

Colonel  Jewell  is  a  public-spirited  citizen.  To  him  Suncook  is  largely 
indebted  for  its  material  advancement  since  his  residence  in  this  community. 
Three  times  have  his  presence  of  mind  and  mechanical  skill  been  the  means  of 
saving  the  village  from  entire  destruction  by  fire.  To  him  is  the  place  indebted 
for  its  very  effective  water-works  to  guard  against  fires  in  the  future. 

In  happy  combination  with  the  great  executive  ability  of  the  subject  of  our 
sketch,  are  a  fine  literary  taste  and  decided  artistic  talent.  The  former  has 
opportunity  for  gratification  in  a  library  rich  in  standard  works,  and  the  latter  is 
attested  by  the  exterior  architectural  decorations  and  interior  embellishments  that 
beautify  his  home.  In  private  life.  Col.  Jewell  is  genial,  affable  and  approachable. 
In  religious  thought  he  affiliates  with  the  Congregationalists ;  but  the  Sabbath  is 
to  him  a  day  of  rest. 

Mr.  Jewell  married,  in  August,  1860,  Mary  A.  Grover,  daughter  of  Ephraim 
Grover,  of  Newton,  Mass.  She  died  October  16,  1862.  He  was  married  the 
second  time.  May  31,  1865,  to  Ella  Louise  Sumner,  daughter  of  Lewis  Sumner, 
of  Needham,  Mass. 

Mr.  Jewell  has  kept  aloof  from  politics,  but  is  a  good  Republican  :  and,  should 
he  be  the  standard-bearer  of  the  party  in  any  future  contest,  he  could  probably 
lead  his  forces  to  victory. 


HON.  CHARLES  M.  MURPHY. 


BY    JOHN    B.    STEVENS,   JR. 


We  live  in  days  when  the  success  of  men  apparently  born  to  lives  of  grind- 
ing toil  is  a  pregnant  sign  of  the  times.  Such  opportunities  are  now  open  to 
him  who  has  a  good  order  of  ability,  with  high  health  and  spirits,  who  has  all 
his  wits  about  him,  and  feels  the  circulation  of  his  blood  and  the  motions  of  his 
heart,  that  the  lack  of  early  advantages  forms  no  barrier  to  success.  A  striking 
illustration  of  the  truth  of  these  statements  is  exhibited  in  the  following  sketch. 

Charles  M.  Murphy,  son  of  John  and  Mary  M.  (Meader)  Murphy,  was 
born  in  Alton,  Belknap  county,  N.  H.,  November  8,  1835.  In  1842  his  parents 
moved  to  Barnstead,  N.  H.,  and  settled  upon  the  Tasker  farm  at  the  south  end 
of  the  town.  Here  the  child  grew  in  stature,  and  filled  out  and  braced  his  frame 
by  hard  manual  labor. 

Scanty  record  is  left  of  these  years  of  severe  work  and  continuous  struggle ; 
but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  discipline  developed  an  indomitable  will  and 
sturdy  self-reliance  —  which  alone  enable  poor  men's  children  to  grapple  with  the 
world  —  that  under  more  favorable  circumstances  might  never  have  shown  their 
full  capacity  of  force  and  tenacity. 

Again,  it  is  widely  believed  —  and  nowhere  more  strongly  than  in  opulent 
cities  and  busy  marts  —  that  a  boy  is  better  bred  on  a  farm,  in  close  contact  with 
the  ground,  than  elsewhere.  He  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  generous,  brave,  humane 
honest,  and  straightforward,  as  his  city-born  contemporary ;  while,  as  to 
self-dependence,  strength,  and  stamina,  he  ordinarily  has  a  great  advantage 
over  his  rival. 

He  attended  the  district  school,  during  the  winter  terms,  until  of  an  age  suit- 
able to  leave  the  parental  care,  when  he  enjoyed  for  two  terms  the  advantages  of 
the  academy  at  Norwich,  Vt.  At  school  it  appears  that  he  was  diligent  and 
ambitious,  and,  from  his  great  phj^sical  strength  and  natural  cheerfulness  of  tem- 
perament, very  active  in  all  athletic  exercises.  Then  began  the  severe  and 
practical  duties  of  life ;  and,  being  the  oldest  of  four  boys,  for  some  years  he 
assisted  his  father  in  educating  and  advancing  the  interests  of  his  brothers. 
John  E.  Murphy  became  a  prominent  dentist,  practicing  in  Pittsfield,  N.  H.,  and 
Marblehead,  Mass.,  and  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-five.  Frank  Murphy, 
M.  D.,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  practiced  his  profession  in  Straftbrd 
and  Northwood ;  but  died  in  the  very  flush  and  promise  of  life,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-nine.  Albert  Warren  Murphy,  D.  D.  S.,  a  graduate  of  the  Philadelphia 
Dental  College,  after  one  year's  practice  in  Boston,  removed,  in  1872,  to  Paris, 
France,  where  his  professional  labors  brought  him  both  credit  and  profit.  At 
the  expiration  of  two  years,  an  active  interest  in  Spanish  a0"airs  and  a  desire  to 
test  the  business  advantages  of  the  country  led  him  to  Spain.  He  soon  settled 
in  Madrid,  and  in   1879  was  appointed  dentist  to  the  royal  court. 


68  HON.    CHARLES    M.    MURPHY. 

Relieved  from  his  generous  labors  at  home,  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  mar- 
ried, at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  to  Sabrina  T.  Clark,  daughter  of  Isaac  Clark,  Esq., 
of  Rarnstead,  N.  H.,  and  for  six  months  tried  independent  farming;  but,  though 
fully  aware  what  a  life  full  of  joy  and  beauty  and  inspiration  is  that  of  the 
country,  and  not  destitute  of  a  natural  taste  for  rural  pursuits,  at  the  expiration 
of  the  time  named  he  surrendered  his  acres  to  his  father,  and  with  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  moved  to  Dover  and  began  the  study  of  dentistry  with 
Dr.  Jefferson  Smith.  To  this  business  he  brought  the  same  will  power  and 
ability  to  prolong  the  hours  of  labor  which  marked  his  early  life,  and  in  two 
years  was  pronounced  competent  to  practice  in  his  new  calling.  Dr.  Smith  soon 
died,  and  the  recently  emancipated  student  not  only  succeeded  very  largely  to 
his  practice,  but  enlarged  and  built  upon  it  till  a  reputation  and  an  income  were 
secured  which  made  travel  and  study  easy  and  profitable.  For  eighteen  years 
this  patient,  hopeful  man  labored  and  experimented,  adding  each  season  to  his 
knowledge  and  skill,  losing  hardly  a  day  except  while  studying  for  his  degree  at 
the  Boston  Dental  College.  In  1878,  as  the  result  of  long  and  careful  study  of 
the  business  interests  of  the  country,  he  withdrew  entirely  from  his  profession 
and  embarked  his  all  in  the  precarious  occupation  of  a  broker.  Here  his  cool- 
ness, sagacity,  and  equableness  of  temper  found  their  proper  field,  and  such  a 
measure  of  success  has  followed  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  few  men  not  bred  from 
youth  amid  the  fluctuations  of  the  stock  market.  In  his  new  occupation  he  is 
indefatigable  in  procuring  information,  and  alike  keen  in  discerning  new  traits  in 
men  and  shrewd  in  contrasting  them  with  those  which  are  more  common  and 
better  known. 

Very  naturally  the  subject  of  our  sketch  took  a  lively  interest  in  political 
affairs  upon  becoming  of  age.  A  strong  and  devoted  Republican,  in  his  adopted 
city  his  influence  in  local  politics  has  been  felt  for  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
state  house  of  representatives  in  1871  and  1873;  attached  to  the  staff  of  Gov. 
Straw;  appointed  and  confirmed  as  consul  to  Moscow  —  honor  declined;  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  convention  in  1880,  where  he  stoutly  supported  Blaine  so 
long  as  a  ray  of  hope  remained ;  president  of  the  Dover  Five  Cent  Savings 
Bank  —  from  a  state  of  torpor  and  weakness  it  has  grown  under  his  guiding 
hand  into  activity  and  strength;  elected  mayor  of  the  city  of  Dover  in  1880,  and 
recently  chosen  for  another  term;  recipient  of  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  B.  from 
Lewis  College  in  1881.  Through  all  his  mature  life.  Col.  Murphy  has  been 
a  busy  man. 

But  the  energetic  and  successful  are  not  exempt  from  the  sorrows  common  to 
humanity.  Three  children,  who,  if  spared,  might  put  off  to  a  distant  day  the 
weariness  that  inevitably  comes  with  advancing  years,  died  while  young;  and 
finally  the  partner  of  all  his  vicissitudes  bade  him  a  final  adieu.  His  second 
wife,  Mrs.  Eliza  T.  Hanson,  widow  of  the  late  John  T.  Hanson,  of  Dover, 
dispenses  a  gracious  hospitality  in  the  spacious  and  richly  furnished  Cushing- 
street  mansion. 

In  closing  we  may  add.  Col.  Murphy  combines  qualities  which  are  generally 
found  apart,  —  a  love  for  work  amounting  to  dedication,  and  a  readiness  to  assist 
the  unfortunate  which  seems  ingrained  His  abode  is  full  of  cheerfulness.  No 
one  comes  there  who  does  not  receive  a  hearty  welcome ;  no  one  departs  without 
feeling  as  if  leaving  a  home. 


HENRY  C.  SHERBURNE. 


Henry  Clay  Sherburne,  son  of  Reuben  B.  and  Sally  (Rackleyft  Staples) 
Sherburne,  was  born  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  December  9,  183(J.  His  father  was 
a  native  of  Pelham  and  his  mother  of  Newmarket ;  so,  although  born  outside 
the  limits  of  the  state,  he  is  wholly  of  New  Hampshire  lineage.  His  early  edu- 
cation, obtained  in  the  public  schools  of  Boston,  terminated  when  he  was  fifteen 
years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  entered  the  employ  of  Holbrook  &  Tappan,  hard- 
ware dealers,  in  whose  store  he  remained  three  years. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  gained  his  first  experience  in  railroad  busi- 
ness, serving  as  a  clerk  in  the  freight  department  of  the  Boston  &  Lowell 
Railroad,  under  his  father,  who  was  agent  of  the  upper  roads  doing  business  with 
that  corporation.  Accepting  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the  Concord  Railroad, 
he  removed  to  Concord  in  1851.  After  a  year's  service  with  the  Concord  Rail- 
road, he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Concord  &  Claremont  Railroad,  where  he 
remained  until  1865,  a  period  of  thirteen  years. 

In  July,  1865,  aJEter  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature  of  that  year,  of  which 
he  was  a  member  from  ward  five.  Concord,  he  removed  to  Boston,  entering  into 
the  business  of  railroad  supplies  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Charles  W. 
Sherburne.  He  remained  there  until  March,  1880,  when  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent and  a  director  of  the  Northern  Railroad. 

During  his  residence  in  Boston,  in  1876,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  New 
York  &  Boston  Despatch  p]xpress  Company,  which  position  he  still  holds.  In 
the  summer  of  1880  he  was  elected  president  and  a  director  of  the  Concord  & 
Claremont  and  Sullivan  railroads,  and  subsequently  a  director  of  the  Concord 
Railroad.  In  September,  1881,  he  was  chosen  general  manager  of  the  Boston, 
Lowell,  and  Concord  railroads,  under  the  business  contracts  between  those  roads. 
In  1878  he  was  sole  trustee  of  the  Hinkley  Locomotive-Works,  upon  the 
failure  of  that  company,  and  operated  the  works  for  about  two  years. 

He  is  now  a  resident  of  ward  four.  Concord.  He  has  a  wife,  and  one  son  — 
Henry  A.  Sherburne,  eleven  yeai's  of  age. 


ZIMRI  S.  WALLINGFORD. 


BY    HON.    JOSHUA    G.  HALL. 


Famous  as  the  small  farming  towns  of  New  Hampshire  have  been  in  pro- 
ducing men  eminent  in  the  learned  professions,  they  have  not  been  less  prolific  in 
furnishing  young  men  who  have  achieved  distinction  and  borne  great  sway  in 
what  are  recognized  as  the  more  practical  business  pursuits.  Inventors,  con- 
structors, skilled  artisans,  the  men  who  have  taken  the  lead  in  developing  our 
manufacturing  interests  and  bringing  toward  perfection  intricate  processes,  those 
who  have  increased  the  volume  of  trade  at  home  and  abroad,  and  have  become 
merchant  princes,  have  come,  as  a  rule,  from  the  plain  farm-houses  and  common 
schools  of  our  thousand  hillsides.  The  stern  virtues,  the  rigid  frugality,  and  the 
unflagging  industry  always  insisted  on  in  the  home  life,  supplemented  by  the  lim- 
ited but  intensely  practical  learning  gained  in  the  district  school,  have  furnished 
successive  generations  of  young  men  compact,  firm,  and  robust  in  their  whole 
make-up,  strong  of  body,  clear  and  vigorous  of  mind,  the  whole  impress  and 
mold  of  their  moral  natures  in  harmony  with  right  doing.  These  men  have 
been  a  permeating  force  for  good  through  all  classes  of  our  population,  and  towers 
of  strength  in  our  national  life.  The  life  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  well 
rounded  example  of  such  young  men. 

ZiMRi  ScATES  Wallingford,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Sallie  (Wooster) 
Wallingford,  was  born  in  Milton,  in  the  county  of  Strafford,  October  7,  1816. 

Nicholas  Wallington,  who  came,  when  a  boy,  in  the  ship  "  Confidence,"  of 
London,  to  Boston  in  the  year  1638,  settled  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  where  he  mar- 
ried, August  30,  1654,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Bridget  Travis,  who  was 
born  in  1636.  He  was  captured  on  a  sea-voyage,  and  never  returned;  and  his 
estate  was  settled  in  1684.  With  his  children  (^of  whom  he  had  eight),  the  sur- 
name became  Wallingford. 

John  Wallingford,  son  of  the  emigrant  Nicholas,  born  in  1659,  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Judge  John  and  Mary  Tuttle,  of  Dover,  N.  H. ;  but  he 
lived  in  that  part  of  Rowley,  Mass.,  now  known  as  Bradford.  He  had  seven 
children  ;  one  of  these  was  Hon.  Thomas  Wallingford,  of  that  part  of  ancient 
Dover  afterwards  Somersworth,  and  now  known  as  Rollinsford,  who  was  one 
of  the  wealthiest  and  most  eminent  men  of  the  province,  associate  justice  of  the 
supreme  court  from  1748  until  his  death,  which  took  place  at  Portsmouth, 
August  4,  1771.  The  eldest  son  of  John  Wallingford,  and  grandson  of  the 
emigrant,  was  John  Wallingford,  born  December  14,  1688,  settled  in  Rochester, 
N.  H.,  and  became  an  extensive  land-owner.  His  will,  dated  October  7,  1761, 
was  proved  January  17,  17()2.  His  son,  Peter  Wallingford,  who  inherited  the 
homestead  and  other  land  in  Rochester  (then  including  Milton),  made  his  will 
April  18, 1771,  which  was  proved  August  24, 1773.  His  son,  David  Wallingford, 
settled  upon  the  lands  in  Milton,  then  a  wilderness.  He  died  in  1815,  being  the 
father  of  Samuel  Wallingford,  who  was  father  of  Zimri  S. 


Zmm    S.    WALLINGFORD,  71 

Upon  his  mother's  side,  Mr.  Wallingford  is  descended  from  Rev.  William 
Worcester,  the  first  minister  of  the  church  in  Salisbury,  Mass.,  and  ancestor  of 
the  eminent  New  J]ngland  family  of  that  name  or  its  equivalent,  Wooster.  Lydia 
Wooster,  great-aunt  of  Mr.  Wallingford,  was  the  wife  of  Gen.  John  Sullivan  of 
Durham,  major-general  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  first  governor 
of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire;  she  was  mother  of  Hon.  George  Sullivan 
of  Exeter,  who  was  attorney -general  of  this  state  for  thirty  years. 

In  1825  the  father  of  Mr.  Wallingford  died,  leaving  his  widow  with  four 
children,  of  which  this  son,  then  nine  years  of  age,  was  the  eldest.  At  the  age 
of  twelve  he  commenced  learning  the  trade  of  a  country  blacksmith.  When 
he  had  wrought  for  his  master  as  his  boyish  strength  would  allow  for  two  years, 
he  determined  not  to  be  content  with  being  simply  a  blacksmith,  and  entered 
the  machine-shop  of  the  Great  Falls  Manufacturing  Company  at  Great  Falls, 
N.  H.,  and  served  a  full  apprenticeship  at  machine-building  there,  in  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

August  27,  1840,  Mr.  Wallingford  married  Alta  L.  G.  Hilliard,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Joseph  Hilliard,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Berwick,  Maine, 
from  179(3  to  1827.  Their  children  have  been  (1)  John  0.  Wallingford,  who 
was  sergeant-major,  and  became  lieutenant  in  the  Fifteenth  N.  H.  volunteers,  in 
the  war  of  the  rebellion  ;  was  severely  wounded  in  the  assault  on  Port  Hudson  ; 
and  was  afterwards  captain  in  the  Eighteenth  N.  H.,  an  officer  of  great  merit, 
whose  death  at  his  home  in  Dover,  March  23,  1872,  was  the  result  of 
disease  contracted  in  his  war  service.  (2)  Mary  C,  now  wife  of  Sidney  A. 
Phillips  Esq.,  counselor-at-law  in  Framingham,  Mass.;  (3)  Julia,  residing 
with  her  parents. 

In  1844,  Mr.  Wallingford  entered  the  employ  of  the  Cocheco  Manufacturing 
Company,  Dover.  N.  H.,  as  master  machine-builder,  and  remained  in  that  capacity 
until  1849.  During  that  period,  Mr.  Wallingford  and  a  partner,  by  contract,  con- 
structed new  machinery,  cards,  looms,  dressing-frames,  and  nearly  everything 
necessary  for  the  re-equipment  of  the  mills.  The  then  new  and  large  mill  at 
Salmon  Falls  was  also  supplied  with  the  new  machinery  necessary,  in  the 
same  manner. 

In  1849  he  became  superintendent  of  the  company's  mills,  under  the  then 
agent.  Captain  Moses  Paul,  and  upon  the  death  of  that  gentleman,  was,  on  the 
first  day  of  August,  1860,  appointed  agent  of  the  company.  He  has  con- 
tinued to  fill  that  office  to  the  present  time.  Taking  into  account  the  great 
social  and  public  influence,  as  well  as  the  recognized  ability  with  which  his  prede- 
cessor had  for  many  years  administered  the  affairs  of  the  Cocheco  company,  the 
magnitude  of  its  operations,  the  force  and  grasp  of  mind  necessary  to  carry  on 
its  affairs  successfully,  it  was  evident  to  all  familiar  with  the  situation  upon  the 
death  of  Captain  Paul,  that  no  ordinary  man  could  occupy  the  place  with  credit 
to  himself,  or  to  the  respect  of  the  public,  or  the  satisfaction  of  the  corporation. 

Fully  conscious  of  the  responsibility  assumed,  and  full  of  the  determination 
which  an  ardent  nature  is  capable  of,  not  only  to  maintain  the  reputation  of  his 
company  but  to  extend  its  operations  and  raise  the  standard  of  its  manufactured 
goods,  it  is  not  overstating  the  fact  to  say  that  in  the  last  twenty  years  few  manu- 
facturing companies  have  made  greater  strides  in  the  extent  of  their  works, 
in  the  quality  of  their  goods,  or  their  reputation  in  the  great  markets,  than  has 
the  Cocheco  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Wallingford.  Always  strong  finan- 
cially, its  wheels  have  never,  during  that  time,  been  idle  in  any  season  of  panic 
or  monetary  depression.  Honorable,  and  ever  generous  to  all  its  employes,  its 
machinery  has  never  stopped  for  a  day  at  the  demand  of  any  organized  strike. 
The  pride,  as  well   as  the    main  business  interest  of   Dover,  Mr.  Walling-ford 


72  ZIMKI    S.    WALLLNGFORD. 

has  always  made  his  company  popular  with  the  people  ;  its  word  [proverbially  is 
as  good  as  its  bond.  The  importance  of  the  work  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the 
mills  were,  when  Mr.  Wallingford  took  charge,  of  a  so-called  capacity  of  fifty- 
seven  thousand  spindles ;  itf  is  now  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand ;  and  the 
reputation  of  the  goods  is  world-wide.  Twelve  hundred  operatives  are  on  the 
books  of  his  charge. 

To  a  stranger  to  the  home  life  of  Dover  these  results  seem  the  great  life-work 
of  Mr.  Wallingford  ;  but  such  an  one,  in  making  u]^  his  estimate,  will  fail  to  do 
justice  to  some  of  the  elements  of  character  which  have,  by  skillful  adaptation, 
contributed  to  so  great  success.  To  one  so  observing,  the  marked  traits  of  the 
individual  are  lost  sight  of  in  the  results  of  his  career.  To  those  only  who  are 
personally  familiar  with  the  individual  are  the  real  elements  of  success  apparent. 
Of  course,  without  the  strong  common  sense  and  good  judgment  which  we 
sum  up  as  "business  sagacity,"  Mr.  Wallingford's  successes  would  have  been 
failui'es  ;  but,  to  one  familiar  with  his  daily  life  for  a  score  of  years,  it  is  apparent 
that  the  crowning  excellence  of  his  life,  and  the  power  which  has  supplemented 
his  mental  force  and  rounded  out  his  life,  have  been  his  stern  moral  sense. 

Perhaps  the  most  noticeable  trait  in  his  character  from  childhood  has  been 
his  love  of  justice  and  right,  and  his  hatred  of  wrong  and  injustice  in  all  its 
forms.  Under  such  a  man,  no  employe,  no  matter  how  humble  his  position, 
could  be  deprived  of  his  just  consideration;  no  interest  of  his  corporation  could 
be  allowed  to  ask  from  the  public  authorities  any  indulgence  or  advantage  not 
fairly  to  be  accorded  to  the  smallest  tax-payer.  Had  he  gone  no  farther  than  to 
insist  on  this  exact  counterpoise  of  right  and  interest,  as  between  employer  and 
employe,  and  betwen  the  interest  represented  by  him  and  the  public  interest,  his 
course  would  have  stood  out  in  marked  contrast  with  the  conduct  of  too  many 
clothed  with  the  brief  authority  of  corporate  power.  Had  this  strict  observance 
of  the  relative  rights  of  all  concerned  been  as  nicely  regarded  by  associated  capi- 
tal generally  as  it  has  been  by  the  Cocheco  company  under  the  management 
of  Mr.  Wallingford  and  his  lamented  predecessor,  no  "brotherhood"  for  the 
protection  of  labor,  no  "strikes"  organized  and  pushed  to  bring  too  exacting 
employers  to  their  senses  and  to  an  observance  of  the  common  rights  of  human- 
ity, would  have  had  an  existence,  and  none  would  have  had  occasion  to  view 
with  jealous  eye  the  apprehended  encroachment  of  corporate  power  on  private 
right.  But  while  so  insisting  on  justice  in  everything,  no  man  has  a  kindlier  vein 
of  character,  or  a  warmer  sympathy  for  deserving  objects  of  charity.  Impulsive, 
naturally,  no  distressed  individual  or  deserving  cause  appeals  to  him  in  vain,  or 
long  awaits  the  open  hand  of  a  cheerful  giver. 

To  a  man  so  endowed  by  nature,  so  grounded  m  right  principles,  and  so  delight- 
ing in  the  exercise  of  a  warm  christian  charity,  we  may  naturally  expect  the 
result  that  we  see  in  this  man's  life,  —  success  in  his  undertakings,  the  high 
regard  of  all  who  know  him,  and  the  kindliest  relations  between  the  community  at 
large  and  the  important  private  interests  represented  by  him  in  his  official  capacity. 

Fifty  years  ago,  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  mere  child,  was  leaving  his 
widowed  mother's  side  to  learn  his  trade,  the  public  mind  was  just  beginning  to 
be  aroused  from  its  long  lethargy  to  a  consideration  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  United  States.  The  sleep  of  men  over  the  subject  had  been  long,  and  their 
consciences  seem  hardly  to  have  suffered  a  disturbing  dream.  Church  as  well  as 
state  was  a  participator  in  the  system,  and  with  unbecoming  haste  rose  up  to  put 
beyond  its  fellowship  and  pale  the  first  agitators  of  emancipation.  Garrison  had 
just  been  released,  through  the  kindness  of  Arthur  Tappan,  from  an  imprison- 
ment of  forty-nine  days  in  Baltimore  jail,  for  saying  in  a  newspaper  that  the  tak- 
ing of  a  cargo  of  negro  slaves  from  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans  was  an  act  of 


ZIMRI    8.    WALLEN^GFORD.  73 

• 

"  domestic  piracy,"  and  was  issuing  the  first  number  of  the  Liberator,  taking  for 
his  motto,  "  My  country  is  the  world,  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind ; "  and 
declaring,  ■'  I  am  in  earnest,  I  will  not  e(|uivocate,  I  will  not  excuse,  I  will  not 
retreat  a  single  inch,  I  will  be  heard." 

The  agitation  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  which  was  to  end  only  with  emanci- 
pation, had  thus  begun.  The  discussion  found  its  way  into  the  public  prints,  and 
among  the  thinking  circles  of  all  rural  New  England.  The  blacksmith's  appren- 
tice read  what  the  newspapers  had  to  say,  and  listened  to  the  neighborhood  dis- 
cussions on  the  great  (juestion.  His  sense  of  justice  and  humanity  was  aroused, 
and  he  adopted  the  motto  and  declaration  of  purpose  as  announced  by  Garrison ; 
and  from  early  youth  till  the  time  when  Lincoln's  proclamation  assured  the  full 
success  of  the  object  aimed  at,  Mr.  Wallingford  was  the  earnest  friend  of  the 
slave  and  the  active  promoter  of  all  schemes  looking  to  his  emancipation.  With 
Garrison,  Phillips,  Parker,  Douglas,  Rogers,  and  the  other  leading  anti-slavery 
men,  he  was  a  hearty  co-worker,  and  for  years  on  terms  of  warm  personal  friendship. 

During  the  winter  of  1840-50,  Hon.  Jeremiah  Clemens  of  Alabama  made  a 
speech  in  the  United  States  senate,  in  which  he  claimed  that  northern  mechanics 
and  laborers  stood  upon  a  level  with  southern  slaves,  and  that  the  lot  of  the  latter 
was  in  fact  envious  when  compared  with  that  of  the  former  classes.  This  speech 
at  once  called  out  from  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  then  a  member  of  the  senate,  a  reply 
iu  keeping  with  the  demands  of  the  occasion  and  with  the  great  powers  of  Mr. 
Hale  as  an  orator.  Soon  after,  a  meeting  of  the  mechanics  of  Dover  was  held,  at 
which  Mr.  Wallingford  presided,  and  at  which  resolutions  expressing  the  feelings 
of  the  meeting  toward  Mr.  Clemens's  speech  were  passed,  and  a  copy  furnished 
to  that  gentleman  by  Mr.  Wallingford.  Upon  the  receipt  of  these  resolutions, 
Senator  Clemens  published  in  the  New  York  Herald  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr. 
Wallingford,  propounding  ten  questions.  These  questions  were  framed,  evidently, 
with  the  design,  not  so  much  of  getting  information  about  the  actual  condition  of 
the  workingmen  of  the  free  states  as  to  draw  from  Mr.  Wallingford  some  material 
that  could  be  turned  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  system  of  free  labor.  Mr.  Wal- 
lingford replied  through  the  press,  February  6,  1850,  in  a  letter  which  at  once 
answered  the  impulsive  and  haughty  "  owner  of  men,"  and  triumphantly  vindi- 
cated our  system  of  free  labor.  For  directness  of  reply,  density,  and  clearness  of 
style,  few  published  letters  have  equaled  it.  It  must  have  afforded  Mr.  Clemens 
material  for  reflection,  and  it  is  not  known  that  he  afterwards  assailed  the 
workingmen  of  the  nation. 

From  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party,  Mr.  Wallingford  has  been  one 
of  its  active  supporters.  Though  no  man  has  been  more  decided  in  his  political 
convictions,  or  more  frank  in  giving  expression  to  them,  no  one  has  been  more 
tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others,  or  more  scrupulous  in  his  methods  of  political 
warfare.  Despising  the  tricks  of  the  mere  partisan,  and  abhorring  politics  as  a 
trade,  he  has  always  been  content  to  rest  the  success  of  his  party  on  an  open,  free 
discussion  of  the  issues  involved.  Not  deeming  it  consistent  with  his  obligations 
to  his  company  to  spend  his  time  in  the  public  service,  he  has  refused  to  accede  to 
the  repeated  propositions  of  his  political  friends  to  support  him  for  important 
official  positions  ;  but  he  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1876, 
and  presidential  elector  for  1870,  casting  his  vote  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler.  He  is, 
and  has  been  for  years,  president  of  the  Savings  Bank  for  the  County  of  Straf- 
ford, a  director  of  the  Strafford  National  Bank,  president  of  the  Dover  Library 
Association,  and  a  director  in  the  Dover  &  Winuipesaukee  Railroad.  In  his 
religious  belief  Mr.  Wallingford  is  a  Unitarian,  and  an  active  member  of  the 
Unitarian  society  in  Dover. 


GENERAL  WALTER  HARRIMAN. 


BY   REV.    S.    C.    BEANE. 


The  name  of  no  New  Hampshire  man  of  the  present  generation  is  more 
broadly  known  than  that  of  Walter  Harriman.  His  distinguished  services 
to  the  state,  both  in  the  legislature  and  in  the  executive  chair;  his  honorable 
service  as  an  officer  of  the  Union  army;  the  important  trusts  he  has  held  at  the 
hands  of  one  and  another  of  our  national  administrations  ;  and.  not  least,  his  bril- 
liant gifts  as  an  orator,  which  have  made  him  always  welcome  to  the  lyceum  plat- 
form and  have  caused  him  to  be  widely  and  eagerly  sought  for  in  every 
important  election  campaign  for  many  years,  —  combine  to  make  him  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  men  in  our  commonwealth. 

The  Harriman  family  is  of  English  origin.  Rev.  Ezekiel  Rogers,  a  man  of 
eminence  in  the  church,  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  in  1590.  He  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  in  1610.  Becoming  a  dissenter  from  the  Church 
of  England,  after  twenty -five  years  of  faithful  service,  his  ministerial  functions  were 
suspended.  He  says  of  himself:  "For  refusing  to  read  that  accursed  book  that 
allowed  sjjorts  on  God's  holy  Sabbath,  I  was  suspended,  and  by  it  and  other  sad 
signs  driven,  with  many  of  my  hearers,  into  New  England."  This  stanch  Puri- 
tan arrived  on  these  shores  in  1638.  In  his  devoted  flock  there  was  an  orphan 
lad,  sixteen  years  of  age,  named  Leonard  Harriman,  and  from  this  youthful  adven- 
turer the  subject  of  our  sketch  descended,  being  of  the  seventh  generation.  Rogers 
selected  for  his  colony  an  unoccupied  tract  of  country  between  Salem  and  New- 
buryport,  Mass.,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Rowley,  that  being  the  name  of  the 
parish  in  Yorkshire  to  which  he  had  long  ministered. 

The  oldest  son  of  Leonard  Harriman  was  massacred,  with  ninety  of  his  com- 
rades,— "  the  flower  of  Essex  county,"  —  in  King  Philip's  war,  September  18, 
1675,  at  Bloody  Brook.  The  great-grandfather  of  Walter  Harriman  saw  eight 
years  of  hard  service  in  the  French  and  Revolutionary  wars.  His  grandfather 
settled  in  the  wilds  of  Warner,  at  the  foot  of  the  Mink  hills,  but  lost  his  life,  by 
an  accident,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight.  His  father,  the  late  Benjamin  E. 
Harriman,  was  a  man  of  character  and  influence  through  an  honorable  life.  He 
reared  a  large  family  at  the  ancestral  home  in  Warner,  where  the  subject  of  our 
sketch,  being  the  third  son,  was  born  April  8,  1817. 

Muscle  and  intelljct  and  the  heroic  virtues  can  have  no  better  nursery  than 
the  rugged  farm-life  of  New  England,  and  the  Warner  homestead  was  a  challenge 
and  stimulus  to  the  qualities  that  were  needed  in  the  future  man  of  aff"airs.  This 
child  of  the  third  generation  that  had  occupied  the  same  house  and  tilled  the 
same  soil,  grew  up  with  a  stalwart  physical  organization  and  a  fine  loyalty  to  his 
native  town,  a  deep  interest  in  its  rude  history  and  traditions,  and  a  sympathy 
with  the  common  people,  which  in  turn  made  him  a  favorite  with  all.  To  this 
day  there  is  to  him  no  spot,  save  his  present  home,  to  be  compared  with  his  birth- 
place, and  there  are  no  people  so  interesting  and  endeared  as  his  old  neighbors  in 


J Ji  Daniels.  Pr  Boston 


GENERAL    WALTER   HARRIMAN.  75 

the  rugged  hill-town.  Ho  has  recently  written  a  history  of  Warner,  which  is 
regarded  as  ''one  of  the  most  systematic,  cumprehensive,  and  generally  interesting 
works  of  the  kind  yet  given  to  the  public  iu  the  state."  The  Harriman  home 
still  remains  in  the  possession  of  the  family,  and,  though  the  ex-governor  now 
resides  in  Concord,  he  spends  many  a  day  in  every  year  amidst  the  old  familiar 
scenes.  His  "schooling  "  was  obtained  at  the  Harriman  district  school,  and  at  the 
academy  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Ilopkinton. 

When  hardly  more  than  a  boy,  he  made  a  successful  trial  of  the  excellent  self- 
discipline  of  school-teaching,  and  at  different  times  taught  in  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Jersey.  While  in  the  latter  state,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  he  became  deeply  interested  iu  the  principles  of  Liberal  Chris- 
tianity (the  form  of  religious  faith  which  he  has  steadfastly  held  to  this  day), 
and  occasionally  wrote  sermons,  which  were  well  received  from  the  pulpit,  and 
some  of  which  found  their  way  into  print.  It  was  certain  i'rom  his  early  youth 
that  nature  designed  him  for  a  public  speaker,  the  rare  oratorical  gifts  which 
afterwards  distinguished  him  having  shown  themselves  gradually  and  propheti- 
cally in  the  district  school-house  and  the  village  academy.  This  tentative  expe- 
rience in  preaching,  undertaken  of  his  own  motion  and  without  conferring  with 
flesh  and  blood,  resulted  in  his  settlement,  in  1841,  over  the  Universalist  church 
in  Harvard,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  in  active  service  four  years.  Returning 
now  to  Warner,  and  soon  leaving  the  pulpit  altogether,  he  became  the  senior 
partner  in  trade  with  John  S.  Pillsbury,  late  governor  of  Minnesota,  —  probabl}^  the 
only  instance  in  our  history  where  two  young  business  partners  in  a  retired  country 
town  have  afterwards  become  the  chief  executives  of  different  states. 

In  1849,  Mr.  Harriman  was  elected  by  his  townsmen  to  the  New  Hampshire 
house  of  representatives,  where  he  almost  immediately  became  prominent  as  a 
leader  in  debate  on  the  Democratic  side.  Of  his  record  as  a  party  man  little  need 
to  be  said,  except  that  from  first  to  last,  and  whatever  his  affiliations,  he  has  shown 
great  independence  in  espousing  measures  and  principles  which  commended  them- 
selves to  his  judgment  and  conscience,  even  when  it  put  him  in  a  minority  with 
his  political  associates.  In  his  first  legislative  term,  on  the  question  of  commuting 
the  death  sentence  of  a  woman  who  was  sentenced  to  be  hung  for  murder,  he  not 
only  advocated  such  commutation,  but  was  a  leader  in  the  movement  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  capital  punishment  altogether,  to  which  purpose  he  has  ever  since  stood 
committed.  In  the  legislature  of  1850,  he  was  the  leading  advocate  of  the 
homestead  exemption  law,  at  which  time  a  resolution  was  adopted,  submitting  the 
question  to  the  people.  The  voters  of  the  state  gave  their  approval  at  the  next 
March  election,  and  in  the  following  June  the  act  was  consummated.  No  legisla- 
ture has  dared  to  repeal  it,  and  the  foresight  and  courage  of  its  authors  and  earliest 
advocates  have  been  so  approved  by  thirty  years  of  experience  that  it  is  doubtful 
if  a  single  citizen  can  be  found  to-day  who  would  desire  to  undo  their  work. 

It  was  no  accident  or  trifling  smartness  that  could  give  a  man  prominence  in 
those  two  legislatures  of  a  third  of  a  century  ago.  Among  the  men  of  marked 
ability,  now  deceased,  who  held  seats  in  those  years,  were  Horton  D.  Walker, 
Samuel  H.  Ayer,  Lemuel  N.  Pattee,  Edmund  Parker,  Samuel  Lee,  John  Preston, 
William  Haile,  Richard  Jenness,  William  P.  Weeks,  Thomas  E.Sawyer,  Wm.  H. 
Y.  Hackett,  Nathaniel  B.  Baker,  Charles  F.  Gove,  Thomas  M.  Edwards,  Josiah 
Quincy,  and  scores  of  others,  now  living,  of  ecjual  merit.  In  this  galaxy  of  bril- 
liant minds,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  young  as  he  was,  Mr.  Hai-riman  was 
an  honored  peer  in  legislative  duty  and  debate.  Besides  the  two  years  named,  he 
represented  Warner  again  in  the  house  in  1858,  when  he  was  his  party's  candi- 
date for  speaker.  He  also  rt>presented  district  No.  8  in  the  state  senate  in  1859 
and  18G(I.     In  1858  and  1854  he   held  the  responsible  office  of  state  treasurer. 


76  GENERAL    WALTER   HARRIMAN. 

Appointed  in  1856,  by  tlie  President  of  the  United  States,  on  a  board  of  commis- 
sioners (with  ex-Congressman  James  H.  Relfe  of  Missouri,  and  Col.  Wm.  Spencer 
of  Obio),  to  classify  and  appraise  Indian  lands  in  Kansas,  be  spent  a  year  of  offi- 
cial service  in  tbat  inviting  territory,  tben  turbulent  with  ruffianism.  (Border 
raids,  burnings,  and  murder  were  daily  occurrences.  But  the  duties  of  this  office 
were  faithfully  attended  to,  and  no  breath  of  complaint  was  ever  heard  against  the 
delicate  work  of  this  board. 

During  the  reign  of  that  un-American  political  heresy,  popularly  called 
Know-Nothingism,  in  1854,  1855,  and  1856,  Mr.  Harriman  was  its  firm  and 
unyielding  enemy.  In  a  discussion  of  this  question  with  Hon.  Cyrus  Barton  at 
Loudon  Center,  Mr.  Harriman  had  closed  his  first  speech,  and  Mr.  Barton  had 
just  begun  a  reply,  when  he  dropped  dead  on  the  platform,  —  a  tragedy  which 
lingers  sadly  in  the  memory  of  his  friendly  antagonist  of  that  day. 

The  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  began  an  era  in  the  life  of  every  public  man  in 
the  nation.  It  projected  issues  which  made  party  allegiance  a  secondary  affair. 
It  sent  many  honest  and  earnest  men  across  the  party  lines,  while  some  of  our 
best  citizens  simply  took  their  stand  for  the  time  being  outside  all  political  folds, 
independent,  and  ready  for  whatever  calls  the  exigencies  of  the  country  might 
give  forth.  In  that  fateful  spring  of  1861,  Mr.  Harriman  became  the  editor  and 
one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  WeeJdy  Union  at  Manchester,  which  heartily 
espoused  the  war  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  for  the  preservation  of 
the  republic,  and  thus  found  himself  the  leader  and  spokesman  of  what  were  known 
as  the  "  War  Democrats."  He  was  placed  in  nomination  as  a  candidate  for 
governor  of  the  state,  at  a  large  mass  convention  of  this  class  of  voters,  held  at 
Manchester  in  February,  1863,  and  this  movement  resulted  in  defeating  a  choice 
by  the  people  and  throwing  the  election  into  the  legislature. 

No  man  uttered  braver  or  more  eloquent  words  for  the  L^nion  cause  than  Mr. 
Harriman,  and  his  tongue  and  pen  were  an  important  element  in  the  rousing  of 
the  citizens  of  New  Hampshire  to  the  graver  duties  of  the  hour.  In  August, 
1862,  he  was  made  colonel  of  the  Eleventh  New  Hampshire  regiment  of  volun- 
teers. He  led  this  regiment  to  the  field,  and  was  at  its  head  most  of  the  time 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  except  the  four  months,  from  May  to  September,  1864, 
when  he  was  an  inmate  of  Confederate  prisons.  With  some  other  captured  Union 
officers,  he  was,  for  seven  weeks  of  this  time,  imprisoned  in  that  part  of  Charleston, 
S.  C,  which  was  most  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Union  guns  from  Morris  island,  but 
providentially,  though  that  part  of  the  doomed  city  was  destroyed,  no  harm  came 
to  him  from  the  guns  of  his  fellow-loyalists. 

The  first  set  battle  in  which  the  Eleventh  Regiment  bore  a  part  was  that  of 
Fredericksburg,  in  December,  1862,  when,  with  unflinching  courage,  Col. 
Harriman  and  his  men  faced  the  dreadful  carnage  of  that  long  day  before 
Marye's  Height,  less  than  three  months  after  their  arrival  in  the  field.  The  loss 
of  the  regiment  in  this  engagement  was  terrific.  Passing  over  much  (for  want  of 
space)  that  is  thrilling  and  praiseworthy,  we  find  the  Eleventh  under  their  colonel, 
at  the  front,  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  6,  1864,  when  they  made  a 
daring  and  stubborn  onset  on  the  Confederate  intrenchments,  carrying  before  them 
two  successive  lines  of  the  enemy's  works.  But  among  the  five  thousand  Union 
men  that  were  captured  in  that  bloody  engagement,  the  commander  of  the  Eleventh 
N.  H.  was  included.  Col.  Harriman  and  the  survivors  of  his  charge  were  present 
at  the  final  grapple  of  the  war  before  Petersburg,  and  on  the  3d  day  of  April, 
1865,  he  led  a  brigade  of  nine  large  regiments  (a  force  three  times  as  great  as 
the  whole  American  army  at  Bunker  Hill )  into  that  fated  city,  on  the  heels  of 
Lee's  fleeing  command.  The  war  was  now  virtually  ended,  the  surrender  of  Lee 
at  Appomattox   followed   six    days   afterwards,    and  the   Eleventh  Eegiment,  of 


GENEKAL    WALTER    HARRIMAN.  77 

proud  and  honorable  record,  was  mustered  out  of  service  in  the  following  June. 
Their  commander  was  appointed  Brigadier-General  U.  S.  V.,  by  brevet,  "  for  gal- 
lant conduct  during  the  war,"  to  date  from  March  13,  1865. 

On  his  arrival  home,  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Gen.  Harriman  was  elected  to 
the  office  of  secretarj^  of  state,  by  the  legislature  then  in  session,  and  he  at  once 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office,  which  he  held  two  years,  and  until  his  pro- 
motion to  the  gubernatorial  chair.  In  the  large  Republican  convention,  consisting 
of  six  hundred  and  seventy-five  delegates,  and  held  at  Concord  in  January,  1867, 
he  was  nominated,  on  the  fiist  ballot,  as  candidate  for  governor  of  the  state.  One 
of  the  most  salient  and  memorable  incidents  connected  with  this  period  was  the 
joint  canvass  made,  by  amicable  arrangement,  between  Gen.  Harriman  and  the 
Hon.  John  G.  Sinclair,  the  Democratic  candidate.  Such  canvasses  are  not  un- 
common in  the  West  and  South ;  but  in  New  England,  and  with  two  men  of  such 
forensic  ability  as  these  distinguished  nominees  possessed,  it  was  an  event  fraught 
with  great  popular  interest,  and  which  drew  forth,  possibly,  the  most  earnest  and 
eloquent  discussions  of  questions  to  which  a  New  England  people  has  ever  listened. 
Many  flattering  notices  were  given  of  these  discussions.  There  were  thirteen  in  all. 
Commenting  on  one  of  the  number,  a  leading  newspaper  said  of  Gen.  Harriman: 
"Soaring  above  all  petty  personal  allusions,  he  held  the  audience  as  if  spell-bound, 
and  made  all  his  hearers,  for  the  time  being,  lovers  of  the  whole  country,  —  of 
the  Union,  of  liberty,  and  independence  throughout  the  world.  He  spoke  not  as 
a  politician,  but  as  a  patriot,  a  .statesman,  a  philanthropist,  and  his  noble  senti- 
ments had  such  power  of  conviction  that  it  was  impossible  to  ward  off  the  results 
by  argument."     His  election  followed  by  a  decisive  majority. 

The  campaign  of  1868  occurred  at  a  time  when  a  strong  reaction  was  setting 
against  the  Republican  party  throughout  the  country.  Fresh  candidates  for  the 
presidency  were  about  to  be  nominated ;  the  impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson 
was  in  progress  ;  military  rule  had  been  established  in  the  Soiath  ;  utter  financial 
ruin  was  hotly  foretold ;  and  the  dominant  party  was  suffering  crushing  reverses 
in  many  of  the  leading  states.  To  add  to  the  discouragements  of  this  party  in 
New  Hampshire,  when  the  municipal  elections  came  on  in  December,  Portsmouth 
and  Manchester  rolled  up  adverse  majorities,  and  the  tide  was  tending  strongly  in 
one  direction.  Encouraged  by  such  promising  signs,  the  Democratic  party  held 
its  state  convention  at  the  early  day  of  the  14th  of  November.  Their  old  and 
tried  war-horse,  John  G.  Sinclair,  was  again  put  upon  the  track,  and  his  election 
was,  by  that  party,  deemed  a  foregone  conclusion.  A  long  and  fierce  contest 
ensued.  Gov.  Harriman  met  his  fellow-citizens,  face  to  face,  in  every  section  of 
the  state.  He  addressed  immense  meetings,  holding  one  every  secular  day  for  six 
weeks,  and  failing  to  meet  no  appointment  on  account  of  weariness,  storms,  or 
any  other  cause.  He  was  triumphantly  re-elected,  obtaining  a  larger  vote  than 
any  candidate  for  office  had  ever  before  received  in  New  Hampshire. 

Of  Gov.  Harriman's  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  state,  in  its  principal 
features,  with  the  exacting  duties  and  the  keen  prudence  required  of  the  chief 
executive  in  those  days  of  large  indebtedness,  unbalanced  accounts,  and  new  legis- 
lation to  meet  the  new  and  unprecedented  demands,  his  constituents  seem  to  have 
been  hearty  and  unanimous  in  their  approval.  Their  feelings  may  be  summed 
up  and  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  Boston  Journal,  when  it  said  :  "  The  ad- 
ministration of  Gov.  Harriman  will  take  rank  among  the  best  that  New  Hampshire 
has  ever  had." 

General  Harriman  was  appointed  naval  officer  of  the  port  of  Boston,  by  Presi- 
dent Grant,  in  April,  1869,  which  office  he  accepted  after  the  expiration  of  his 
gubernatorial  term  in  June  following.  He  was  re-appointed  in  1873,  for  a  term 
of  four  years.  The  affiiirs  of  this  office  were  conducted  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
preclude  any  word  of  criticism. 


78  GENERAL    WALTER    HARRIMAN. 

Gen.  Harriman  lias  engaged  in  political  canvasses  repeatedly  in  most  of  the 
northern  states,  and  in  1872  he  participated  extensively  in  the  state  campaign  in 
North  Carolina.  In  this  latter  canvass,  the  key-note  of  the  national  campaign 
was  pitched,  and  the  result  of  the  desperate  contest  there  in  August  made  the 
re-election  of  Gren.  Grant  in  November  a  certainty. 

Thousands  have  warmly  testified  to  the  rare  oratorical  powers  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  the  Meriden  (Conn.)  Recorder  being  one  of  the  number.  That 
paper  says  of  him :  "  As  a  platform  speaker,  we  never  heard  his  equal.  His 
delivery  is  fine,  his  logic  clear  as  crystal,  his  manner  easy  and  natural,  and  his 
physical  force  tremendous.  With  a  voice  clear  and  distinct  as  a  trumpet,  of  im- 
mense compass,  volume,  and  power,  his  influence  over  an  audience  is  complete.  He 
afi'ects  nothing,  but  proceeds  at  once  to  the  work  in  hand,  and  from  the  very  outset 
carries  his  hearers  with  him,  rising,  at  times,  with  the  inspiration  of  his  theme,  to 
the  loftiest  flights  of  eloquence." 

Gov.  Harriman  has  been  twice  married;  first,  in  1841,  to  Miss  Apphia  K., 
daughter  of  Capt.  Stephen  Hoyt,  of  Warner,  who  died  two  years  afterwards; 
and  again  in  1844,  to  his  present  wife.  Miss  Almira  R.  Andrews.  By  the  latter 
marriage  he  has  had  three  children.  Georgia,  the  only  daughter,  is  the  wife  of 
Joseph  R.  Leeson,  an  enterprising  imjDorter  of  Boston.  Walter  Channing,  the 
oldest  son,  married  Miss  Mabel  Perkins,  of  Portsmonth.  He  is  a  promising  and 
successful  lawyer,  living  at  Exeter,  and  solicitor  of  Rockingham  county.  The 
younger  son,  Benjamin  E.  having  prepared  himself  for  the  medical  profession  at 
some  of  the  best  schools  in  the  land,  took  his  degree  at  Dartmouth  College  in 
1877,  and  began  practice  in  Manchester.  But  his  health  soon  failing,  after 
patient  and  determined  eff'orts  for  its  recovery,  and  after  attempting  in  another 
place  to  resume  his  professional  work,  he  died  at  his  father's  home  in  Concord, 
in  May,  1880,  lamented,  not  only  by  his  own  family,  but  by  a  large  circle  of 
devoted  and  enthusiastic  friends.  His  wife,  so  early  bereaved,  was  Miss  Jessie  B., 
only  daughter  of  the  late  Col.  Isaac  W.  Farmer,  of  Manchester.  A  biographical 
paper  read  before  the  N.  H.  Medical  Society,  by  Dr.  A.  H.  Crosby  (a  physician  of 
wide  reputation),  and  printed,  portrays  the  character  of  Dr.  Harriman  in  'gen- 
erous outline,  and  fine  and  tender  tinting,  and  from  it  we  know  that  he  was  a 
young  man  of  high  integrity,  large  capacities  for  friendship,  and  superior  equip- 
ment for  his  life-work.  There  are  two  grandsons  to  represent  the  family,  one  in 
the  home  of  each  of  the  governor's  surviving  children. 

The  home  of  Gov.  Harriman  in  Concord,  where  he  has  now  lived  since  1872, 
is  a  delightful  one,  and  no  one  enjoys  it  with  more  satisfaction  than  he  himself. 
A  great  traveler,  by  the  necessities  of  his  public  career,  he  has  a  mastering  fondness 
for  quiet  domestic  life,  and  never  are  his  rich  stores  of  experience,  his  knowledge 
of  men,  and  his  fine  sense  of  humor  with  its  exhaustless  fund  of  material,  more 
ready  at  his  command  than  of  an  evening  in  his  own  house.  He  writes  for 
various  of  the  standard  publications  of  New  England,  and  no  time  hangs  weari- 
some on  his  mind.  He  wears  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.,  conferred  by  Dart- 
mouth College  in  1867.  A  good  citizen  and  neighbor,  a  delightful  companion, 
free  and  familiar  and  sympathetic  with  all  persons,  his  intellectual  power  now  at 
high  noon,  and  never  better  able  to  serve  his  time  than  now,  it  would  seem  that 
many  years  of  useful  activity  are  before  him  ere  the  restful  evening  descends. 


^- tv-  Geo  E.ParmB.l'-^"'''^ 


HON.  SAMUEL  METCALF  WHEELER. 


Hon.  Samuel  Metcalf  Wheeler  was  born  in  Newport,  N.  H.,  May  11, 
1828.  He  was  the  only  son  —  liaving  one  sister  —  of  Albira  and  Melinda 
(Metcalf)  Wheeler,  who  came  of  families  of  remarkably  vigorous  constitution 
and  decided  longevity;  and  from  his  ancestry,  doubtless,  Mr.  Wheeler  inherits  the 
intellectual  and  physical  ability  which  has  made  him  so  careful  in  breadth  of  study, 
and  so  successful  as  a  legal  adviser  at  the  bar  and  in  legislative  debate  and  action. 

Mr.  Wheeler's  early  education  was  obtained  in  the  seminary  at  Claremont. 
N.  H.,  the  military  academy  at  Windsor,  Yt.,  at  Newbury  Seminary,  Vt.,  and  in 
private  instruction  in  the  languages. 

In  1844  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Walker  &  Slade. 
at  Royalton,  Vt. ;  seven  months  later  he  entered  that  of  Tracy  &  Converse  at 
Woodstock,  Vt.,  where  he  remained  two  years  and  a  half;  and  for  some  months 
afterwards  he  read  law  with  Hon.  Ralph  Metcalf,  an  ex-governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, from  whoso  office  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847.  He  commenced 
practice  in  Newport,  where  he  remained  about  a  j^car.  The  next  four  or  five 
years  he  practiced  in  Fisherville,  and  in  1853  he  removed  to  Dover,  where  he 
at  once  entered  upon  a  large  and  successful  practice,  and  where  he  still  remains. 
At  first  he  was  in  business  connection  with  John  H.  Wiggin,  Esq.,  which  lasted 
for  two  years.  Subsequently,  in  1858,  he  associated  with  himself  Hon.  Joshua  Or. 
Hall,  then  commencing  practice,  and  the  law  firm  of  "Wheeler  &  Hall  "  contin- 
ued for  eight  years.  Since  that  time,  Mr.  Wheeler,  while  having  the  assistance 
made  necessary  by  his  practice,  has  remained  withoiit  a  partner. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Wheeler  has  long  been  recognized  as  a  leader.  His  natural 
abilities,  strengthened  and  brightened  by  patient  study,  which  has  made  him 
familiar  with  the  law  and  precedents,  and  his  learning,  supplemented  by  the 
power  to  see  all  the  features  of  a  case  and  a  conscientious  devotion  to  the  interest 
of  his  client,  make  him  a  safe  adviser.  His  particular  success,  however,  has 
undoubtedly  been  in  the  trial  of  jury  causes,  where  his  extensive  study,  quickness 
of  perception,  tact,  and  forensic  ability,  and  a  habit  of  thought  which  grasps  par- 
ticulars into  a  whole,  tending  to  one  strong  impression  upon  listeners,  have  been 
the  elements  which  have  made  him  very  strong. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  fmm  the  first  one  of  the  pillars  of  Republican  strength  in 
Strafford  county ;  and  when  the  party  in  Dover  has  needed  some  one  to  represent 
it  with  conspicuous  ability  it  has  very  often  called  upon  him.  Pie  represented 
that  city  in  the  legislature  in  1864,1865,  1868,  1869,  and  1870,  and  in  1876 
was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  New  Hampshire.  In  the 
house,  he  was  on  the  judiciary  committee  in  1864,  and  its  chairman  in  1865, 
also  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  in  1868  ;  and  in  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion was  chairman  of  one  of  the  four  only  leading  committees,  viz.,  that  on 
the  bill  of  rights. 

In  1869  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house,  receiving  nearly  all  the  votes  of 
his    party   in    caucus,  and  much  beyond  his  party    vote    in  the    house.      He 


80  HON.  SAMUEL  METCALF  WHEELER. 

was  recliosen  in  1870,  again  receiving  more  than  the  vote  of  his  party. 
As  a  member  of  the  house,  he  was  always  recognized  as  a  leader  whose 
counsel  it  was  safe  to  follow  and  whose  opposition  was  generally  fatal ;  and, 
as  speaker,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  dignity,  courtesy,  and  knowledge  of  par- 
liamentary law.  He  was  several  times  the  leading  Republican  candidate  for 
cono-ress  in  the  first  district,  and  the  peculiar  methods  by  which  other  men  were 
put  into  the  place  which  the  people  demanded  he  should  fill  have  disgraced 
and  weakened  the  party  in  that  section  ever  since. 

In  the  year  1866,  Mr.  Wheeler  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  from  Dartmouth  College.  He  was  president  of  the  Dover  National  Bank 
from  1858  to  1874. 

Mr.  Wheeler  married,  December  31,  18.48,  PriscillaE.,  daughter  of  Joseph 
W.  and  Phebe  (Wheeler)  Clement,  of  Franklin,  N.  H.  They  have  but  one 
child,  — Helen  Maud,— born  March  27,  1858.-  Mr.  Wheeler  is  still  in  the 
prime  of  successful  practice  in  Dover. 


S/^' 


C^:^Cc^i^ 


(^^//^clIj^ 


82  HON^.    EDWARD    SPALDING,    M.  D. 

attended  three  courses  of  lectures  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School  at  Boston,  and 
was  graduated  at  that  institution  in  the  summer  of  1837.  Having  spent  a  few 
months  riding  with  his  father,  and  observing  his  treatment  of  the  sick,  he 
decided  to  enter  on  what  seemed  a  promising  field  for  a  physician  at  Nashua. 
Accepting  an  invitation  from  the  elder  Dr.  Eldredge,  he  became  a  partner  with 
him  in  practice.  After  this  partnership  was  dissolved  the  business  increased,  and 
he  gained  for  himself  an  extensive  and  valuable  patronage.  He  enjoyed  the  con- 
fidence of  a  large  circle  of  families,  and  his  success  as  a  physician  had  given  him 
an  enviable  reputation.  In  the  meantime  he  had  been  called  to  assume  respon- 
sibilities of  a  fiduciary  nature,  involving  such  care  and  labor  as  seriously  to  inter- 
fere with  his  professional  engagements.  The  transition  to  these  new  employ- 
ments was  the  natural  se(pience  of  the  excellent  judgment  and  rare  capacity  for 
business  which  he  manifested.  The  accuracy  and  promptitude  with  which  his 
accounts  were  rendered  to  the  probate,  and  the  just  consideration  for  the  feelings 
and  interests  of  all  persons  concerned  in  the  settlement  of  the  estates  committed 
to  his  trust,  brought  such  a  pressure  of  occupation  that  he  was  compelled  to 
relinquish  his  profession. 

He  had  now  been  in  practice  twenty-five  years,  and  satisfactory  as  his  services 
as  a  physician  had  been  to  the  community,  he  was  yet  to  perform  an  imperative 
and  valuable  service  by  his  judicious  management  of  important  trusts  and  his 
earnest  co-operation  in  the  direction  and  enlargement  of  new  enterprises.  In 
addition  to  his  engagements  in  the  settlement  of  large  estates,  he  became  inter- 
ested in  banking,  manufacturing,  and  railroads,  holding  various  ofiices  of  labor 
and  responsibility  in  these  institutions  and  corporations.  He  was  for  several 
years  treasurer  of  the  Nashua  Savings  Bank  and  subsequently  its  president.  He 
was  one  of  the  original  projectors  of  the  "  Pennichuck  Water- Works,"  of  which 
company  he  is  president.  A  director  in  both  of  the  large  cotton  manufac4;uring 
companies  which  have  contributed  so  much  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city,  he  has 
also  fulfilled  similar  duties  in  other  corporations  elsewhere.  For  a  time  a  director, 
he  has  become  the  president,  of  the  Indian  Head  National  Bank. 

In  municipal  and  town  offices  he  has  performed  important  duties,  taking  a 
lively  interest  in  the  progress  of  popular  education.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  school  committee  a  large  portion  of  the  time  that  he  has  lived  in  Nashua, 
and  is  now  chairman  of  the  board  of  education.  A  member  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Historical  Society,  his  encouragement  and  assistance  are  gratefully 
acknowledged  by  several  gentlemen  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  preparation 
and  publication  of  genealogical  and  town  histories.  He  has  also  been  actively 
engaged  in  building  up  the  city  library,  of  which  he  has  been  a  trustee  from  the 
beginning  of  the  enterprise. 

Never  seeking  political  preferment,  and  personally  disinclined  to  the  strife  for 
political  distinctions,  he  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  in  1864,  and  served  as 
delegate  to  the  Baltimore  convention  in  the  same  year.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
state  convention  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution  in  1876,  and  councilor  for 
two  years  during  the  administration  of  his  Excellency  Governor  Prescott,  1878 
and  i879. 

In  1866  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Dartmouth  College,  a  position  which  he 
still  retains,  and  in  which  he  has  contributed  to  the  substantial  prosperity  of  the 
institution  by  frequent,  unobtrusive  gifts,  and  the  steady  service  of  a  loyal  and 
judicious  mind.  He  has  also  represented  Dartmouth  College  as  a  trustee  of  the 
College  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts  during  the  whole  period  of  its 
existence  as  a  department  of  instruction. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  1842,  Dr.  Spalding  was  united  in  marriage  with  Dora 
Everett,  second  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  Appleton  Barrett,  of  New  Ips- 
wich, a  family  associated  favorably  with  the  history  of  the  town  so  widely  known 


nON.    EDWARD    SPALDING,    M.  D.  83 

by  the  character  and  achievements  of  its  sons.  By  this  marriage  Dr.  Spalding 
had  three  children,  of  whom  two  daughters  are  living ;  the  second  child,  a  son, 
f^dward  Atherton,  died  November  10,  18G3,  aged  eleven  years  and  two  months. 
With  thi>j  exception,  the  life  of  Dr.  Spalding  has  been  singularly  exempt  from 
afflictive  changes.  Happy  in  the  circle  of  his  kindred  and  the  connections  formed 
by  marriage,  his  home  has  been  a  welcome  resort  to  the  youth  of  both  families, 
while  the  older  generation  was  tenderly  cared  for  by  the  thoughtful  and  continued 
ministrations  of  this  son  and  his  com})anion. 

As  might  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said  of  the  general  esteem  in  which 
Dr.  Spalding  is  held,  he  has  many  personal  friends  among  men  of  thoughtful  and 
scholarly  habits.  Himself  a  student,  and  thoroughly  awake  to  whatever  affects 
the  nation's  welfare,  he  has  been  a  careful  reader  of  current  history.  He  has 
marked  the  progress  of  the  various  moral  and  political  questions  that  agitate  the 
minds  of  the  people  and  shape  the  legislation  of  the  country,  with  deep  concern 
that  the  issues  might  be  favorable  to  the  principles  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
A  sincere  believer  in  the  teachings  of  our  Divine  Lord,  he  has  recognized  as  a 
Christian  the  claims  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the  claims  of  the  city  where  he 
dwells.  A  liberal  and  constant  contributor  to  the  institutions  which  are  organ- 
ized to  extend  the  knowledge  of  Christ  throughout  the  world,  he  is  known  as 
the  patron  and  advocate  of  missions  at  home  and  abroad.  For  many  years  he 
has  been  the  president  of  the  New  Hampshire  Bible  Society.  He  has  cheerfully 
borne  his  full  proportion  of  the  expenses  incident  to  the  maintenance  of  the  local 
institutions  of  public  worship  and  religious  instruction  in  the  church  and  society 
with  which  he  is  connected.  When  the  meeting-house  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  was  burned,  he  at  once  proposed  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Isaac  Spalding, 
that  they  two  should  each  give  ten  thousand  dollars  towards  the  cost  of  rebuild- 
ing,—  a  proposition  to  which  Mr.  Spalding  promptly  assented,  thus  insuring  the 
immediate  erection  of  the  commodious  and  pleasant  edifice  which  that  church 
now  owns. 

With  such  a  variety  of  offices  and  engrossing  employments  still  demanding 
his  attention,  we  should  anticipate  that  the  duties  would  become  burdensome,  and 
the  skillful  hand  lose  something  of  its  cunning;  but  the  Doctor  is  still  vigorous 
and  works  easily.  This  continued  capacity  for  labor  is  doubtless  owing  to  the 
natural  endowments  of  a  man  who  has  nurtured  his  forces  by  avoiding  excesses 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  by  carefully  husbanding  his  strength.  He 
has  not  onJy  arranged  his  business  on  system,  but  he  has  resolutely  reserved 
to  himself,  annually,  seasons  of  almost  absolute  rest.  Retaining  his  early  fond- 
ness for  fishing,  for  a  few  weeks  in  every  year  he  has  resorted  to  the  moun- 
tain streams  and  inland  lakes  of  northern  New  England  for  his  favorite  recre- 
ation. In  these  excursions  he  has  sought  the  head  waters  of  most  of  our  rivers, 
and  become  acquainted  with  the  grand  and  beautiful  scenery  of  the  mountain 
region.  He  has  learned  the  haunts  and  habits  of  all  the  fish  to  be  found  in  our 
streams,  and  of  the  birds  that  frequent  our  forests.  By  this  method  has  he 
renewed  his  yoiith,  while,  with  others  of  congenial  tastes,  he  has  made  his  knowl- 
edge tributary  to  the  public  good,  by  joint  efforts  to  restore  the  migratory  fishes 
to  the  waters  of  the  state,  from  which,  by  artificial  obstructions,  they  have  been 
shut  out.  The  board  of  fish  and  game  commissioners  for  New  Hampshire,  of 
which  Dr.  Spalding  is  chairman,  is  an  outgrowth  of  this  joint  endeavor  that 
promises  to  enlarge  the  piscatory  resources  of  the  state. 

With  this  record  of  the  number  and  variety  of  trusts  which  are  still  in  his 
hands,  and  the  appointments  that  he  must  meet  daily,  and  from  week  to  week,  it 
is  evident  that  the  Doctor  is  still  capable  of  continuous  labor.  His  grateful  testi- 
mony addressed  to  his  classmates  is,  "  I  have  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  health. 


84  HON.    EDWARD    SPALDING,    M.  D. 

and  a  degree  of  happiness  and  prosperity  far  beyond  the  common  lot."  The 
sources  of  his  good  fortune  are  not  to  be  sought  in  extraordinary  gifts  or  peculiar 
helps.  Beginning  life  with  a  sound  mind  and  sound  body,  he  has  cherished  both 
by  regular  habits  and  studious  industry.  By  fidelity  and  painstaking  in  business, 
by  generous  and  considerate  treatment  of  others,  by  using  his  influence  and  prop- 
erty in  befriending  the  needy  and  helping  young  men  struggling  with  adverse 
circumstances,  by  cherishing  the  friendship  of  good  men  in  all  classes  of  society, 
and  in  daily  recognition  of  his  need  of  guidance  and  wisdom  from  God, —  he  has 
escaped  the  envy  and  conflicts  which  beset  a  selfish  and  ambitious  career.  Happy 
in  his  employments,  and  enjoying  the  good  that  followed  his  exertions,  men  have 
witnessed  his  advancement  with  pleasure  and  sought  to  do  him  honor.  His  life 
illustrates  the  value  of  those  personal  excellences  which  all  may  cultivate,  and 
shows  the  readiness  of  mankind  to  recognize  their  worth.  To  such  as  are  seeking 
to  do  right  and  serve  their  generation,  the  example  is  encouraging,  and  assures  us 
that  energy,  integrity,  and  beneficence  are  not  without  rewards. 


*---  's^^^-- 


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EnSd  by  AJi  Ritchie 


i-^-Zty'UP     ^^Ur^oi, 


CUn^^x-n^-C-O 


'UXI^ 


HON.  JAMES  A.  WESTON. 


BY    H.    H.    METCALF. 


Much  has  been  written  in  praise  of  Manchester,  the  foremost  city  of  the 
state  in  size  and  importance,  in  the  extent  and  variety  of  its  manufacturing 
estabUshments  and  in  the  energy,  activity,  and  public  spirit  of  its  citizens. 
It  has  been  called,  also,  the  "  city  of  governors,"  and  four  of  the  nine  living 
ex-chief-magistrates  of  the  state  have  their  residence  within  its  borders ;  while 
still  another,  residing  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  is  reckoned  as  substantially  a 
Manchester  man.  Yet,  after  all,  but  one  native  of  Manchester  has  ever  held  the 
office  of  governor  of  New  Hampshire.  What  is  far  more  remarkable  is  the  fact, 
that  of  twenty  men  who  have  been  chosen  mayor  of  Manchester,  one  alone  was 
born  within  its  limits.  He  and  Manchester's  only  native  born  governor  are  one 
and  the  same,  —  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  —  a  man  who,  from  the  work  he  has 
accomplished,  as  well  as  from  the  distinction  he  has  received  at  the  hands  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  has  long  been  accorded  a  conspicuous  position  among  the 
representative  men  of  his  city  and  state. 

James  Adams  Weston  was  born  in  Manchester,  August  27,  1827.  He 
is  a  descendant  of  the  seventh  generation  from  John  Weston,  of  Buckingham- 
shire, England,  who  aided  in  establishing  the  colony  at  Weymouth  (then  Wis- 
casset),  Mass.,  where  he  went  into  mercantile  business,  being  among  the  first  to 
engage  in  the  colonial  trade.  Returning  to  England  a  few  years  subseciuently, 
he  suddenly  died  there;  but  in  1644,  John  Weston,  a  young  son  of  the  deceased, 
made  his  way  to  America,  where  he  joined  some  of  his  kindred  who  had  emi- 
grated in  the  mean  time.  He  finally  settled  in  Reading,  Mass.,  and  was  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  family  of  which  James  A.  Weston  is  a  representative.* 

In  1803,  Amos  Weston,  a  descendant  of  John,  removed  from  Reading,  with 
his  family,  and  settled  in  Manchester,  then  Derryfield.  He  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  located  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  town.  This  Amos 
Weston  was  a  man  of  character  and  influence,  and  was  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, chosen  in  March,  1810,  to  petition  the  legislature  to  change  the  name  of 
Derryfield  to  Manchester.  A  son  of  the  above,  Amos  Weston,  Jr.,  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Derryfield,  and  located  upon  land  adjoining  that  of  his 
father,  clearing  up  from  the  wilderness  the  farm  since  well  known  in  Manchester 
as  the  "  Weston  place."  He  married  Betsy,  a  daughter  of  Col.  Robert  Wilson, 
of  Londonderry,  a  leading  citizen  of  the  town,  whose  father,  James  Wilson,  came 
from  Londonderry,  Ireland,  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  and 
settled  at  the  place  now  known  as  Wilson's  Crossing.  Amos  Weston,  Jr.,  was 
a  man  of  strong  mind  and  sound  judgment,  and  was  much  in  the  public  service. 
He  officiated  as  town  clerk  five  years ;  as  selectman,  fifteen  years,  being  eleven 
years  chairman  of  the  board ;  was  three  times  the  representative  from  Manches- 
ter in  the  legislature;  and  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1850. 

♦Agenealogy  of  the  Weston  families  in  America,  prepared  under  the  direction  and  patronage  of 
Gov.  Weston,  is  nearly  ready  for  publication. 


86  HON.    JAMES   A.    WESTON. 

From  his  union  with  Betsy  Wilson  —  an  estimable  and  exemplary  woman  —  five 
children  resulted.    Of   these,  the  youngest,  James  A.  Weston,  is  the  sole  survivor. 

Like  most  sons  of  New  Hampshire  farmers,  Mr.  Weston  passed  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  his  time  in  youth  in  tilling  the  soil ;  but  secured  a  substantial 
education  at  the  district  school  and  the  Manchester  and  Piscataquog  academies. 
With  a  strong  aptitude  for  mathematics,  he  soon  determined  to  apply  himself  to 
the  study  of  civil  engineering,  with  a  view  to  making  that  his  avocation  in  life, 
teaching  school  winters  in  the  meantime.  So  rapidly  did  he  prepare  himself  for 
his  chosen  occupation  that  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  was  appointed  assis- 
tant civil  engineer  of  the  Concord  Railroad,  and  immediately  (in  1846)  com- 
menced work  in  superintending  the  laying  of  the  second  track  of  that  road.  In 
18-i9  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  chief  engineer,  which  he  held  for  a 
long  series  of  years.  For  several  years,  also,  he  discharged  the  duties  of  road 
master  and  master  of  transportation  of  the  Concord  and  Manchester  &  Lawrence 
railroads.  As  chief  engineer  of  the  Concord  &  Portsmouth  Railroad,  he  super- 
intended the  construction  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  line,  as  he  subse- 
quently did  that  of  the  Suncook  Valley  Railroad.  As  a  civil  engineer,  he 
occupies  a  place  in  the  front  rank  in  his  profession  in  New  England ;  and  his 
services  have  been  in  demand  far  beyond  his  ability  to  respond,  in  making 
surveys  for  proposed  railways,  water-works,  etc.  Prominent  among  the  public 
works  with  which  he  has  been  connected  in  this  capacity,  may  be  mentioned  the 
Concord  water-works,  supplying  the  capital  city  with  water  from  Penacook 
lake,  for  which  he  made  the  survey,  and  whose  construction  he  superintended. 

In  his  political  convictions  and  associations,  Mr.  Weston  has  been  a  Democrat 
from  youth.  Never  a  machine  politician,  or  even  a  zealous  partisan,  though  a 
devoted  supporter  of  the  principles  and  policy  of  his  party,  he  has  won  and  held 
the  personal  respect  of  both  friends  and  opponents  in  political  aifairs ;  so  that, 
when  a  candidate  for  public  ofl&ce  (which  he  has  never  been  except  at  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  those  who  regarded  his  candidacy  essential  to  party  success),  he 
has  never  failed  of  strong  popular  support,  measurably  exceeding  that  of  his 
party  strength  alone.  In  1861  he  was  persuaded  to  accept  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  mayor  of  the  city.  Previous  to  this  time  Manchester  had  almost 
universally  been  regarded  as  a  Repviblican  or  Whig  city.  The  year  previous  to 
Mr.  Weston's  nomination  the  Republican  candidate  had  been  elected  by  nearly 
four  hundred  and  fifty  majority.  He  was  defeated,  however,  by  a  majority  of 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty ;  while  the  following  year  he  came  within  eighteen 
votes  of  defeating  the  opposing  candidate,  ex-Mayor  Theodore  T.  Abbot,  who 
received  on  a  former  occasion  a  larger  vote  than  had  ever  been  cast  for  any 
other  candidate. 

Again,  in  1867,  Mr.  Weston  was  pressed  into  service  by  his  party  associates 
in  the  city,  as  a  mayoralty  candidate  against  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Clark,  then  mayor, 
and  Republican  candidate  for  re-election.  This  canvass  resulted  in  his  election 
by  a  majority  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-two,  and  by  a  larger  vote  than  had 
ever  been  received  by  any  previous  candidate  except  that  for  Mayor  Abbot,  in 
1855.  At  the  next  election  the  Republicans  made  a  strong  and  determined 
efi'ort  to  regain  their  ascendency  in  the  city ;  but,  although  they  had  carried  the 
city  for  Gen.  Grant  for  president,  at  the  election  but  a  few  weeks  previous,  by 
about  six  hundred  majority,  the  ward  returns  at  the  municipal  election  gave 
Mayor  Weston  a  majority  of  seven  votes  over  his  Republican  opponent,  Hon. 
Isaac  W.  Smith.  The  "  revising "  process  was  resorted  to,  however,  and  the 
latter  declared  elected  by  twenty-three  majority.  In  1869,  Mr.  Weston  defeated 
Mayor  Smith  by  a  good  majority,  and  was  re-elected  the  following  year. 

Naturally  enough,  Mayor  Weston's  remarkable  success  as  the  standard-bearer 
of  his  party  in  the  city  of   Manchester,  and  the  increased  popularity  he  had 


HON^.    JAMES   A.    WESTON.  87 

secured  by  wise  and  efficient  tidministration  of  municipal  affairs  in  that  large  and 
prosperous  community,  suggested  him  to  the  Democracy  of  the  state  at  large  as 
a  most  fit  and  available  candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  nomination ;  and  at  the  ^ 
state  convention,  in  January,  1871,  he  was  made  the  nominee  of  the  party  ' 
for  governor.  The  election  "^resulted  in  no  choice  of  governor  by  the  people, 
though  Mr.  Weston  received  a  decided  plurality  of  the  votes  cast,  and  was 
chosen  governor  by  the  legislature  in  June  following,  —  the  Republicans  thus 
losing  control  of  the  state  government  for  the  first  time  since  their  advent  to 
power  in  1855.  Determined  to  retrieve  their  fallen  fortunes,  the  Republican 
leaders,  in  1872,  brought  to  the  front,  as  their  standard-bearer  and  gubernatorial 
nominee,  Hon.  Ezekiel  A.  Straw,  agent  of  the  xlmoskeag  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, a  man  of  great  resources  and  unparalleled  influence  in  manufacturing 
circles,  not  only  in  Manchester,  but  throughout  the  state.  His  defeat  of  Gov. 
Weston  in  the  following  canvass  was  a  matter  of  no  surprise  to  either  party ;  and 
his  re-election  the  subsequent  year  naturally  resulted.  The  Democracy,  however, 
insisted  on  continuing  Mr.  Weston  as  their  candidate ;  and  in  1874  he  secured  a 
handsome  plurality,  and  was  again  elected  governor  by  the  legislature.  In 
December  previous  he  had  received  the  unusual  distinction  of  a  fourth  election 
as  mayor  of  his  city,  being  chosen  by  a  majority  much  larger  than  he  had  ever 
before  received,  reaching,  some  six  hundred  votes.  Although  there  was  great 
partisan  excitement  in  the  state  during  Mr.  Weston's  second  administration,  his 
official  integrity  and  thorough  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  state  were  con- 
ceded even  by  his  most  determined  political  opponents ;  and  no  man  holds  in 
fuller  measure  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  people,  regardless  of  party,  than  does 
James  A.  Weston,  the  only  living  Democrat  who  ever  occupied  that  position. 

In  the  prosperity  of  his  native  city,  in  every  material  direction,  Mr.  Weston 
has  manifested  a  deep  and  abiding  interest,  and  no  man  has  labored  more  zeal- 
ously or  efficiently  for  the  promotion  thereof.  In  illustration  may  be  cited  the 
fact  that  to  his  efforts,  individual  and  official,  more  than  those  of  any  other  man, 
the  city  is  indebted  for  the  projection  and  completion  of  its  superior  water-works, 
by  which  an  ample  supply  of  pure  water  is  secured  from  Lake  Massabesic. 
Various  sources  of  supply  had  long  been  considered,  but  he  had  been,  from  the 
first,  an  advocate  of  the  Massabesic  project,  and  his  influence  had  done  much  to 
secure  its  favorable  consideration.  In  1871,  while  mayor  of  the  city,  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  definite  action  determined  upon  in  that  direction.  Having 
been  actively  engaged  in  securing  the  necessary  legislation,  and  becoming  ex 
officio  a  member  of  the  board  of  commissioners  established  to  carry  out  the 
work,  he  devoted  his  efforts  heartily  to  its  inauguration,  and  no  day  of  his  life, 
probably,  ever  brought  him  more  sincere  gratification  than  that  which  witnessed 
the  completion  of  this  important  work,  —  a  source  of  daily  blessing  to  the  people 
of  his  city,  and  of  just  pride  to  those  under  whose  advice  and  direction  it  was 
projected  and  executed,  among  whom  he  is  properly  regarded  most  prominent. 
He  is  still  a  member  of  the  board  of  water  commissioners  ;  is  chairman  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  Manchester  cemetery  fund,  a  member  of  the  committee 
on  cemeteries,  and  has  long  served  as  its  clerk  and  treasurer. 

Gov.  Weston  served  as  chairman  of  the  New  Hampshire  centennial  commis- 
sion, was  appointed  by  congress  a  member  of  the  centennial  board  of  finance, 
and  his  efforts  contributed  largely  to  the  excellence  of  the  New  Hampshire 
exhibit  and  the  general  success  of  the  exposition.  He  also  served  as  chairman 
of  the  building  committee  of  the  Manchester  soldiers'  monument,  and  has 
recently  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  health,  established 
under  the  act  of  the  hist  legislature. 

With  all  his  public  and  professional  work.  Gov.  Weston  has  been  for  several 
years  actively  and  prominently  connected  with  important  business  interests.     He 


88  HON.    JAMBS   A.    WESTON. 

was  for  some  time  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Amoskeag  Savings  Bank,  and  some 
three  years  since  was  chosen  president  of  the  City  National  Bank,  which  was 
changed  to  the  Merchants  National  Bank  in  October,  1880,  at  whose  head  he 
still  remains.  He  was  also  the  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  Guaranty 
Savings  Bank  of  Manchester,  which  commenced  business  in  December,  1879,  of 
which  he  is  clerk  and  treasurer,  as  well  as  one  of  the  trustees.  This  institu- 
tion, under  his  administration,  has  been  almost  unprecedentedly  prosperous,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  solid  financial  establishments  in  the  city  and  state.  He  is 
treasurer  of  the  Suncook  Valley  Railroad,  and  a  director  and  clerk  of  the  Man- 
chester horse  railroad,  a  corporation  in  whose  establishment  he  was  actively  en- 
gaged. He  has  been  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Fire  Insurance  Company  from  its  organization  until  the  present  time  ;  vice-president 
also  until  the  resignation  of  the  presidency  by  Grov.  Straw,  in  January,  1880, 
since  when  he  has  been  president.  This  flourishing  corporation  —  the  only  one 
of  the  kind  in  the  state,  whose  capital  stock  is  about  to  be  increased  to  half  a 
million  dollars,  and  which  already  ranks  with  the  most  prosperous  in  the  coun- 
try—  owes  its  success,  in  no  small  degree,  to  Gov.  Weston's  sound  judgment  and 
careful  management.  When,  in  August,  1880,  after  protracted  litigation,  the 
supreme  court  appointed  trustees  for  the  bondholders  of  the  Manchester  & 
Keene  Railroad,  who  assumed  control  of  the  road.  Gov.  Weston  was  selected  as 
chairman  of  the  board  by  which  the  road  was  has  since  been  operated. 

In  1871,  Gov.  Weston  received  from  Dartmouth  College  the  honorary  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts.  He  has  long  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  has 
taken  all  the  degrees  conferred  in  the  Manchester  bodies,  and  is  now  serving  his 
eighteenth  term  as  treasurer  of  Trinity  Commandry,  Knights  Templar.  For 
ten  years  past  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  well  known  military  organization, 
the  Amoskeag  Veterans.  His  religious  associations  are  with  the  Franklin-street 
Congregational  church,  of  which  society  he  has  long  been  an  active  member  and 
treasurer.  His  residence  has  been  in  his  native  city  from  his  birth  until  the 
present  time,  with  the  exception  of  seven  years  at  Concord,  from  1849  to  1856. 

February  23,  1854,  he  married  Anna  S.,  daughter  of  Mitchel  Gilmore,  Esq., 
of  Concord,  a  cultivated  lady  of  strong  domestic  tastes,  by  whom  he  has  an  inter- 
esting family  of  five  surviving  children, — the  eldest  born,  a  son  (Herman), 
having  died  at  the  age  of  four  and  a  half  years, —  Grace  Helen,  born  July  1, 
1866  ;  James  Henry,  July  17,  1868 ;  Edwin  Bell,  March  15,  1871  ;  Annie 
Mabel,  September  26,  1876;  Charles  Albert,  November  1,  1878.  Their  home, 
at  the  corner  of  Maple  and  Myrtle  streets,  is  a  spacious  yet  modest  and  tasty 
dwelling,  the  abode  of  domestic  comfort  and  social  enjoyment. 

Other  men  in  New  Hampshire  have  attained  greater  wealth  and  more  varied 
public  honors ;  but  when  all  the  elements  of  substantial  success  are  considered, 
there  are  none,  certainly,  who  outrank  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Cautious, 
sagacious,  and  methodical ;  with  a  well  balanced  mind,  and  executive  ability  of  a 
high  order ;  scrupulously  exact  in  the  performance  of  every  duty  and  the  dis- 
charge of  every  trust,  public  or  private ;  uniformly  courteous  in  his  intercourse 
with  others,  and  mindful  of  every  obligation  to  society  and  humanity,  —  the 
ample  measure  of  success  he  has  attained,  and  the  general  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held,  are  but  the  legitimate  outcome  of  his  life  and  conduct. 


HON.  JOHN  KIMBALL. 


BY    J.    N.    MCCLINTOCK. 


A  STRANGER  in  Concorcl  is  at  first  most  impressed  by  its  natural  beauties, 
enhanced  by  the  foresight  of  the  fathers  of  the  town.  Nature  and  art  are  rarely 
combined.  Beautiful  shade  trees  are  on  every  hand,  as  they  are  in  many  other 
of  the  favored  cities  of  the  Union.  Concord  is  distinctively  attractive  in  its 
perfection.  The  roads  and  streets  are  carei'ully  graded  ;  the  bridges  are  substan- 
tial and  elegant  structures ;  the  system  of  water  supply,  gas-works,  and  sewers, 
unseen,  is  excellent  and  complete ;  the  school-houses  are  appropriate  and  orna- 
mental ;  the  private  and  public  buildings  are  well  built  and  neatly  maintained ; 
the  fire  department  is  exceptionally  fine ;  the  property  of  the  city  is  discretely 
acquired,  and  well  cared  for ;  the  policy  of  the  city  is  at  once  progressive 
and  liberal. 

To  no  one  man  can  be  given  the  credit  of  accomplishing  all  these  satisfactory 
results  ;  they  are  the  fruits  of  unity  of  purpose  of  the  many,  guided  by  a  large, 
public-spirited  policy  dictated  by  a  few.  To  no  one,  how^ever,  is  the  city  of 
Concord  more  indebted  for  its  material  advancement  and  internal  improvement, 
during  the  first  quarter  century  of  its  municipal  existence,  than  to  its  esteemed 
citizen,  Hon.  John  Kimball.  The  name  is  a  household  word  in  Concord.  It 
conveys  a  meaning  to  the  present  generation  jjeculiar  to  itself.  It  is  the  name 
of  a  man  who,  springing  from  the  sturdy  yeoman  and  artisan  stock,  —  from  the 
people,  —  has  won  his  way,  by  tireless  industry,  unblemished  integrity,  sterling 
honesty,  and  sound  good  sense,  to  positions  of  responsibility  and  prominence. 

The  Kimball  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  New  England.     It  sprang  from 

1.  Richard  Kimball,  who,  with  his  wife,  Ursula,  and  seven  children,  left 
their  home  in  the  mother  country,  braved  the  dangers  of  a  stormy  ocean,  landed 
on  the  inhospitable  shores  of  an  unbroken  wilderness,  and  commenced  a  new 
life,  deprived  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  civilization,  but  blessed  with  polit- 
ical and  religious  liberty.  He  came  from  the  old  town  of  Ipswich,  county  of 
Sufi"olk,  in  the  east  of  England,  sailed  on  the  ship  "  Elizabeth,"  and  in  the  year 
1(!34,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  settled  in  Ipswich,  in  the  Bay  colony.  The  next 
year  he  was  admitted  a  freeman,  which  must  be  accepted  as  evidence  that  he  was 
a  Puritan  in  good  standing.  He  was  the  father  of  eleven  children,  and  died 
June  22,  1G75.  From  this  patriarchal  family  most  of  the  Kimballs  of  New 
England  can  trace  their  descent. 

2.  Ilichard  Kimball,  son  of  Richard  and  Ursula  (Scott)  Kimball,  was  born 
in  England,  in  1623,  and  was  brought  to  this  country  by  his  parents,  in  child- 
hood. He  was  a  wheelwright  by  trade  ;  married  Mary  Gott ;  was  the  father  of 
eight  children  ;  settled  in  Wenham,  Mass.,  as  early  as  1656,  and  died  there  May 
20,  1676.     The  mother  of  his  children  died  September  2,  1672. 

3.  Caleb  Kimball,  son  of  Richard  and  Mary  (Gott)  Kimball,  was  born  in 
Wenham,  April  9,  1665.     He  was  a  ma«on  by  trade;  was  the  father  of  eight 

7 


90  HON.    JOHN   KIMBALL. 

children ;  settled  for  a  time  at  Exeter,  N.  H.,  and  died  in  Wenham,   January 
25,  1725.     His  widow  died  in  Wenliam,  January  20,  1731. 

4.  John  Kimball,  son  of  Caleb  and  Sarah  Kimball,  was  born  in  Wenham, 
Mass.,  December  20,  1699.  He  settled  on  the  land  purchased  by  his  father  in 
Exeter,  N.  H.,  and  married  Abigail  Lyford,  February  14,  1722.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  and  died  in  Exeter,  February  12,  1737.  He  after- 
wards married  Sarah  Wilson,  of  Exeter,  September  18,  1740.  They  were  the 
parents  of  nine  children.  The  fifteen  children  of  John  Kimball  were  all  born 
in  Exeter. 

5.  Joseph  Kimball,  son  of  John  and  Abigail  (Lyford)  Kimball,  was  born  in 
Exeter,  January  29,  1730.  In  early  life  he  married,  and  was  the  father  of  two 
children,  but  was  left  a  childless  wadower  in  a  few  years.  He  afterwards  mar- 
ried Sarah  Smith.  They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children.  In  1793  he 
removed  to  Canterbury,  and  settled  on  a  farm  just  north  of  Shaker  Village.  In 
early  life  he  was  stricken  with  blindness,  and  never  looked  upon  the  town  of 
Canterbury,  and  never  saw  six  of  his  children.  He  died  November  6,  1814. 
His  wife  died  March  1,  1808. 

6.  John  Kimball,  son  of  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Kimball,  was  born  in 
Exeter,  November  20,  1767  ;  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Moulton,  of 
Kensington,  November  21,  1793;  moved  to  Canterbury,  February  17,  1794,  and 
settled  on  their  homestead  near  Shaker  Village,  where  they  resided  nearly  sixty 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children.  His  wife  died  April  30,  1853. 
He  died  February  26,  1861,  reaching  the  good  old  age  of  more  than  ninety-three 
years.  He  was  well  known  throughout  central  New  Hampshire,  and  did  a  large 
business  in  buying  wool. 

7.  Benjamin  Kimball,  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Moulton)  Kimball,  was  born 
in  Canterbury,  December  27,  1794;  married  Ruth  Ames,  daughter  of  David 
Ames,  February  1,  1820,  and  settled  in  Boscawen  in  the  spring  of  1824,  on  the 
farm  known  as  the  Frost  place,  High  street.  In  1830  he  removed  to  the  village 
of  Fishcrville,  wdiere  he  died  July  21,  1834.  He  was  an  active  and  influential 
business  man.  In  1831  he  erected  the  dam  acro.ss  the  Contoocook  river,  and  the 
brick  grist-mills  standing  near  the  stone  factory.  He  took  an  active  part  in  all 
that  was  essential  to  the  general  and  religious  welfare  of  the  town.  In  March 
preceding  his  death  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  town  in  the  legislature,  but 
his  health  was  so  impaired  that  he  was  not  able  to  take  his  seat. 

8.  John  Kimball,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  son  of  Benjamin  and  Ruth 
(Ames)  Kimball,  was  born  in  Canterbury,  April  13,  1821.  In  infancy  he  was 
taken  by  his  parents  to  Boscawen,  where  in  early  youth  he  had  the  educational 
advantages  which  the  district  schools  of  the  town  afforded.  He  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  attending  the  Concord  Academy  only  one  year,  after  which  he  was 
apprenticed  with  a  relative  to  learn  the  trade  of  constructing  mills  and  machinery. 
On  attaining  his  majority,  in  1842,  his  first  work  was  to  rebuild  the  grist-mill 
near  Boscawen  Plain.  Afterward  he  followed  the  same  business  in  Suncook, 
Manchester,  Lowell,  and  Lawrence.  In  1848  he  was  employed  by  the  directors 
of  the  Concord  Railroad  to  take  charge  of  the  new  machine  and  car  shops  then 
building  at  Concord.  He  was  appointed  master  mechanic  of  the  Concord  Rail- 
road in  1850,  and  retained  the  position  eight  years,  when  he  relinquished  mechan- 
ical labor  for  other  pursuits.  As  a  mechanic,  Mr.  Kimball  inherited  a  great 
natural  aptitude,  and  has  few  superiors.  His  sound  judgment  and  skill  were 
in  constant  requisition  in  the  responsible  office  in  the  railroad  service  he  held  for 
so  many  years;  and  the  experience  and  training  there  acquired  have  been  of 
great  value  to  the  city  and  state  when  his  services  have  been  demanded  by  his 
fellow-citizens. 


HON.    JOHN   KIMBALL.  91 

In  1856,  Mr.  Kimball  was  elected  to  the  common  council  of  tlie  city  of 
Concord.  In  1857  ho  was  re-elected,  and  was  chosen  president  of  that  body. 
In  1858  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  legislature;  and  was  re-elected  in 
1859,  serving  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  state-prison.  From  the  year 
1859  to  the  year  1802,  Mr.  Kimball  served  the  city  of  Concord  as  collector  of 
taxes  and  city  marshal.  In  1862  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Lincoln,  collec- 
tor of  internal  revenue  for  the  second  district  of  New  Hampshire,  including  the 
counties  of  Merrimack  and  Hillsborough,  and  held  the  office  for  seven  years, 
collecting  and  paying  over  to  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States  nearly  seven 
millions  of  dollars. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Kimball  was  elected  mayor  of  Concord,  and  was  re-elected  to 
this  honorable  and  responsible  office  in  1873,  1874,  and  1875.  Immediately 
after  Mr.  Kimball  assumed  the  duties  of  this  office  a  severe  freshet  either  carried 
away  or  rendered  impassable  five  of  the  seven  bridges  spanning  the  Merrimack 
and  Contoocook  rivers.  The  work  of  rebuilding  these  structures  devolved  imme- 
diately upon  him,  as  superintendent  of  roads  and  bridges.  The  Federal  bridge 
and  the  bridge  at  Fisherville,  both  of  iron,  are  monuments  of  his  progressive 
ideas.  During  his  administration  the  system  of  water  supply  from  Long  pond 
was  carried  on  to  successful  completion,  and  the  purest  of  water  has  since  been 
at  the  command  of  every  citizen.  This  work  required  a  large  sum  of  money, 
which  was  so  carefully  expended  that  no  one  has  felt  the  burden  save  as  a  bless- 
ing. The  fire  department  was  invested  with  new  dignity  by  the  city  government 
during  those  ye^rs.  The  firemen  had  their  demands  for  appropriate  buildings 
fully  satisfied,  and  are  proud,  as  is  the  whole  city,  of  the  beautiful  central  fire 
station  and  other  buildings  of  the  department,  which  compare  favorably  with 
any  in  the  country. 

Aside  from  his  mechanical  skill,  Mr.  Kimball  long  since  won  the  enviable 
reputation  of  an  able  and  successful  financier.  In  1870,  upon  the  organization 
of  the  INIerrimack  County  Savings  Bank,  he  was  elected  its  treasurer,  and  has 
held  the  office  ever  since.  To  him,  for  many  years,  have  been  intrusted  the  settle- 
ment of  estates,  the  management  of  trust  funds,  and  the  care  of  the  property 
of  widows  and  orphans.  As  treasurer  of  the  New  Hampshire  Bible  Society 
and  Orphans'  Home,  he  has  given  to  those  institutions  the  benefit  of  his 
financial  experience. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  city  of  Concord,  the  mechanical  skill  and  financial 
ability  of  Mr.  Kimball  were  fully  exercised.  During  his  term  of  office  as  mayor 
he  was  one  of  the  water  commissioners,  ex  officio^  and  president  of  the  board  in 
1875.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  a  water  commissioner,  in  1877,  for  a 
term  of  three  years;  re-appointed  in  1880,  and  has  been  president  of  the  board 
since  his  first  appointment.  Upon  the  death  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  White,  Mr. 
Kimball  was  elected  president  of  the  Concord  Gas-Light  Company,  having  held 
the  office  of  director  for  several  years.  What  little  credit  is  due  a  member 
of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1876  is  his.  He  represented  the  fifth 
ward  in  Concord,  and  served  the  convention  acceptably  as  chairman  of  its 
finance  committee. 

The  demand  for  a  new  state-prison,  in  union  with  the  philanthropic  ideas  of 
the  age,  culminated,  in  the  year  1877,  in  an  act  of  the  legislature  providing  for 
a  new  state-prison,  and  granting  for  the  purpose  a  very  moderate  appropriation, 
hedged  in  by  every  possible  safeguard.  The  governor,  Benjamin  F.  Prescott, 
with  the  advice  of  his  council,  immediately  upon  the  passage  of  the  law  appointed 
three  commissioners  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  act.  Mr.  Kimball 
was  chosen  chairman  of  the  board.  Upon  these  commissioners  has  devolved  the 
duty  of  constructing  the  massive  pile  of  buildings  known  as  the  new  state-prison, 


92  HON".    JOHN   KIMBALL. 

commodious  for  the  officers,  humane  and  comfortable  for  the  inmates,  acceptable 
to  the  authorities  and  the  people,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  appropriation. 
In  the  autumn  of  1880  the  structure  was  appropriately  dedicated  to  its  future 
uses,  by  fitting  ceremony.  Col.  John  H.  George,  of  Concord,  delivered  the 
address,  and  in  closing  said  :  — 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  further  and  warm  congratulation  that  its  erection  has  been 
intrusted  to  a  competent  commission ;  that  good  judgment  and  intelligent  inves- 
tigation have  characterized  the  plan  ;  that  no  corrupt  jobbery  has  polluted  its 
construction ;  and  that  for  every  dollar  expended  a  fair  and  honest  result  has 
been  obtained.  And  in  this  connection  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  fitness  and 
labors  of  the  chairman  of  the  board  especially  should  receive  public  recognition. 
To  the  successful  performance  of  the  duties  of  his  office  he  brought  unusual 
mechanical  skill  and  large  experience  in  the  construction  of  public  works." 

In  1880,  when  the  Manchester  &  Keene  Railroad  was  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  court,  Mr.  Ivimball  was  appointed,  by  Chief-Justice  Doe,  one  of  the  trustees. 
In  November,  1880,  Mr.  Kimball  was  chosen  a  senator  from  district  number  ten, 
and  upon  the  organization  of  the  legislature  in  June,  1881,  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  president  of  the  senate,  in  importance  the  second  office  in  the  state. 
As  presiding  officer,  he  is  dignified,  courteous,  and  impartial.  He  carried  *to  the 
position  a  fund  of  information,  a  wealth  of  experience,  controlled  by  sound  judg- 
ment, and  strong  convictions. 

Politically,  Mr.  Kimball  is  a  Republican.  For  fifteen  years,  since  1863,  he 
has  been  treasurer  of  the  Republican  state  committee.  With  him  right  takes 
precedence  of  policy.  It  takes  no  finesse  to  know  on  what  side  he  is  to  be 
found.  In  his  dealings  he  is  upright,  has  confidence  in  himself  and  in  his  own 
judgment,  and  it  is  hard  to  swerve  him.  He  is  frank  and  free  in  his  general 
intercourse,  bluff  and  often  brusque  in  manner,  but  never  discourteous.  He  is 
a  man  of  large  and  progressive  views,  and  actuated  by  the  most  conscientious 
motives.  His  character  for  integrity  is  without  blemish,  and  as  firmly  estab- 
lished as  the  granite  hills. 

In  1843  he  joined  the  church  at  his  old  home  in  Boscawen,  and  ever  since 
has  affiliated  with  the  Congregationalists.  For  many  years  he  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  South  Congregational  church  of  Concord.  He  is  eminently  a  man 
of  affairs,  —  of  acts,  not  words.  His  reading  is  of  a  scientific  character,  varied 
by  genealogical  and  historical  research. 

In  person,  Mr.  Kimball  is  of  commanding  presence  and  muscular  figure, 
inclined  to  be  spare,  but  of  apparently  great  physical  powers.  In  private  life  he 
is  a  devoted  friend,  a  kind  neighbor,  an  esteemed  citizen,  and  a  charitable,  toler- 
ant, self-reliant  man. 

In  early  manhood.  May  27,  184(5,  Mr.  Kimball  was  joined  in  marriage  to 
Maria  H.  Phillips,  of  Rupert,  Vermont.  Their  only  child,  Clara  Maria  Kimball, 
born  March  20,  1848,  was  married  June  4,  1873,  to  Augustine  R.  Ayers,  a  suc- 
cessful merchant  of  Concord.  Five  children  —  Ruth  Ames,  John  Kimball, 
Helen  McGregor,  Joseph  Sherburne,*  and  Josiah  Phillips  —  have  been  born 
to  them. 

*Deceased. 


JONATHAN  EVERETT  SARGENT,  LLD. 


BY    J.    N.    MCCLINTOCK. 


Judge  Sargent,  now  of  Concord,  has  been  well  known  throughout  the 
state  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Besides  an  extensive  legislative 
acquaintance,  he  has,  as  judge  of  the  different  courts  and  as  chief-justice  of  the 
state,  held  terms  of  court  in  every  shire  town  and  half-shire  town  in  every  county 
in  the  state.  He  has  been  emphatically  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  and  by 
his  energy  and  perseverance  has  reached  the  highest  post  of  honor  in  his  profes- 
sion in  his  native  state.  He  is  genial  and  social  with  his  friends;  he  loves  a  joke, 
and  belongs  to  that  small  class  of  men  "who  never  grow  old."  He  loves  his 
home,  his  family,  and  his  books.  No  man  enjoys  the  study  of  history  and  of 
poetry,  of  philosojthy  and  of  fiction,  better  than  he,  while  law  and  theology  come 
in  for  a  share  of  attention, —  a  kind  neighbor,  a  respected  citizen,  a  ripe  scholar, 
a  wise  legislator,  an  upright  judge,  an  honest  man. 

In  the  year  1781,  Peter  Sargent,  the  grandftither  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  moved  from  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  to  New  London,  at  that  time  equally  well 
known  as  Heidleburg.  This  locality  had  been  known  by  this  latter  name  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  was  granted  by  the  Masonian  proprietors, 
July  7,  1773,  to  Jonas  Minot  and  others,  as  the  "Addition  of  Alexandria."  It 
was  first  settled  in  1775,  and  was  incorporated  as  a  town  by  the  legislature,  June 
25,  1779.  Peter  Sargent,  who  thus  moved  into  the  town  two  years  after  its 
incorporation,  was  one  often  brothers,  all  born  in  Amesbury,  Mass.,  who  settled  as 
follows:  Amasa,  Jlzekiel,  Thomas,  and  Moses  always  lived  at  Amesbury;  James 
settled  in  Methueu,  Mass. ;  Peter,  Nathan,  and  Stephen  came  to  Hopkinton, 
N.  H.,  and  settled  there ;  and  Abner  and  Ebenezer  came  to  Warner,  N.  H.,  and 
settled  there.  These  ten  brothers,  with  four  sisters,  were  the  children  of  Deacon 
Stephen  Sargent,  of  Amesbury,  Mass. 

[Christopher  Sargent,  an  older  brother  of  Deacon  Stephen,  graduated  at  Har- 
vard, entered  the  ministry,  and  was  the  first  settled  minister  of  Methuen,  Mass. 
His  eldest  son,  Nathaniel  Peaslee  Sargent,  graduated  at  Harvard,  practiced  law 
at  Haverhill,  and  was  for  many  years  a  judge  of  the  supreme  judicial  court  of 
Massachusetts,  and  was  chief  justice  of  the  state  in  1790  and  1791,  when  he 
died  aged  sixty.] 

Deacon  Stephen  Sargent  was  the  son  of  Thomas,  2d,  who  was  the  son  of 
Thomas,  1st,  who  was  the  son  of  William  Sargent.  Stephen  married  Judith 
Ordway,  of  West  Newbury,  Mass.,  September  26,  1730;  was  chosen  deacon  of 
the  Second  Congregational  church  in  Amesbury,  May  10,  1757 ;  and  died 
October  2,  1773." 

William  Sargent  was  born  in  England  aliout  1602,  and  was  the  son  of  Richard 
Sargent,  an  officer  in  the  royal  navy.  It  is  believed  he  came  to  A^irginia  at  an 
early  day,  with  William  Barnes,  John  Hoyt,  and  others.  He  married  Judith 
Perkins  for  his  first  wife,  who  died  about  1633,  when  he,  with  several  daughters. 


94         JONATHAN  EVEUETT  SARGENT,  LL.  D. 

was  one  of  the  twelve  men  who  commenced  the  settlement  of  Ipswich,  Mass., 
that  year.  He  soon  after  went  to  Newbury  and  helped  form  a  settlement  there  ; 
and  about  1G88  he,  with  several  others,  commenced  a  settlement  at  Hampton. 
He  soon  after,  about  1G40,  removed  to  Salisbury,  and  was  one  of  the  eighteen 
original  proprietors,  or  commoners,  who  settled  in  New  Salisbury,  since  known  as 
Amesbury.  His  second  wife's  name  was  Elizabeth,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
Thomas  and  William.  He  had  several  lots  of  land  assigned  him  at  different 
times;  was  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town  in  1G67.  He  died  in  1675, 
aged  seventy-three. 

Peter  Sargent  married  Ruth  Nichols,  of  Amesbury  or  Newbury,  Mass.,  and 
came  to  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  in  1763  or  1764,  where  they  lived  some  eighteen 
years,  and  raised  a  large  family,  and  when  he  went  to  New  London  took  them  all 
with  him.  His  children  were  Anthony,  Abigail,  Ruth,  Judith,  Peter,  Ebenezer, 
Aniasa,  John,  Molly,  Ezekiel,  Stephen,  William,  and  Lois.  These  all  came  from 
Hopkinton  to  New  London  in  1781,  except  Lois,  who  was  born  subsequently  in 
New  London. 

Ebenezer,  the  father  of  the  judge,  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  April.  3,  1768, 
and  was,  of  course,  thirteen  years  old  when  he  came  to  New  London  with  his 
father's  family.  After  becoming  of  age  he  procured  him  a  farm,  and,  on  the 
25th  of  November,  1792,  he  married  Prudence  Chase,  of  Wendell  (now  Sun- 
apee),  the  daughter  of  John  and  Ruth  (Hills)  Chase.  They  had  ten  children, 
as  follows :  Anna,  Rebekah,  Ruth,  Setli  Freeman,  Aaron  Lealand,  Sylvanus 
Thayer,  Lois,  Laura,  Jonathan  Kittredge,  and  Jonathan  Everett.  Jonathan 
Kittredge  died  young,  the  other  nine  lived  to  mature  age,  and  five  of  them, 
three  sons  and  two  daughters,  still  survive.  The  parents  always  lived  upon  a 
farm,  securing  what  was  then  considered  as  a  competence,  and  both  died  in  New 
London,  having  lived  together  more  than  sixty-five  years. 

The  following,  then,  is  the  order  of  descent :  — 

1.  Richard  Sai'gent,  of  England. 

2.  William,  son  of  Richard,  born  in  1602. 

3.  Thomas,  son  of  William,  born  in  April,  1  643. 

4.  Thomas,  Jr.,  son  of  Thomas,    born  in  November,  1676. 

5.  Stephen,  son  of  Thomas,  Jr.,  born  in  September,  1710. 

6.  Peter,  son  of  Stephen,  born  about  1740. 

7.  Ebenezer,  son  of  Peter,  born  in  April,  1768. 

8.  Jonathan  Everett  Sargent  was  born  at  New  London,  October  23, 
1816.  He  lived  at  home,  working  upon  the  farm  until  he  was  seventeen  years 
of  age,  and,  being  the  youngest  child,  his  father  had  arranged  for  him  to  live  at 
home  and  take  care  of  his  parents,  and  have  the  farm  at  their  decease.  The  son, 
however,  had  little  love  for  the  farm,  and,  as  soon  as  the  care  and  support  of  his 
parents  could  be  provided  for  in  another  way,  he  arranged  with  his  father  that 
he  was  to  have  the  remaining  four  years  of  his  time  till  twenty-one,  was  to  clothe 
himself,  and  pay  his  own  bills,  and  call  for  nothing  more  from  his  father.  He 
fitted  for  college  at  Hopkinton  Academy,  and  at  Kimball  Union  Academy, 
Meriden,  and  in  1836  entered  Dartmouth  College,  having  paid  his  way  by  teaching 
school  winters  and  laboring  in  vacations.  By  teaching  school  every  winter  and 
two  fall  terms  in  Canaan  Academy  during  his  college  course,  he  earned  enough 
to  pay  all  his  expenses  in  college  with  the  exception  of  $200,  which  he  borrowed 
of  his  father,  and  repaid  the  same,  with  interest,  within  two  years.  Though  out 
of  C(»llege  two  terms,  besides  winters  in  teaching,  and  another  term  on  a(;count  of 
sickness,  yet  he  was  always  ready  at  each  examination  to  be  examined  with  his 
class.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  graduated, 
in  1840,  amonjj;  the  first  in  his  class. 


JONATHAN  EVERETT  SAKGENT,  LL.  D.         95 

Mr.  Sargent  luid  long  before  this  made  up  his  mind  to  turn  his  attention  to 
the  law  as  a  ])rofession,  and  he  accordingly  began  the  study  of  the  law  at  once 
with  Hon.  William  P.  Weeks,  of  Canaan,  and  remained  with  him  till  the  spring 
of  1841,  when  he  was  advised  by  his  physician  to  go  South  for  his  health.  He 
went  first  to  Washington,  soon  after  to  Alexandria,  D.  C,  where  he  taught  a 
high  school,  then  to  Maryland,  where  he  remained  a  year  in  a  family  school, 
when,  having  regained  his  health,  he  returned  to  New  Hampshire  in  September, 
1842.  He  laad  ,  upon  his  arrival  in  Washington,  entered  his  name  as  a  law  stu- 
dent in  the  office  of  Hon.  David  A.  Hall  of  that  city,  and  continued  the  study 
of  the  law  under  his  direction,  while  engaged  in  teaching,  and  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  the  courts  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  April.  1842,  only  about 
twenty  months  after  leaving  college.  By  the  rule  of  that  court  any  one  might 
be  admitted  upon  examination,  without  regard  to  the  length  of  time  he  had 
studied ;  and  he  was  examined  in  open  court  by  Chief- Justice  Cranch  and  his 
associates  upon  the  bench,  and  was  admitted. 

After  returning  home,  he  continued  his  legal  studies  M'ith  Mr.  Weeks  until 
the  Jiily  law  term,  in  Sullivan  county,  in  1843,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  the  superior  court  of  judicature  in  this  state.  He  then  went  into  company 
with  Mr.  Weeks  at  Canaan,  where  he  remained  till  1847,  when  he  removed  to 
Wentworth  and  opened  an  office  there.  He  had  been  appointed  solicitor  for 
Grafton  county  in  November,  1844,  while  at  Canaan,  and  he  at  once  commenced  a 
lucrative  business  at  Wentworth;  was  re-appointed  solicitor  in  1849  for  five  years 
more,  thus  holding  the  office  for  ten  years,  to  1854,  performing  the  duties  to  the 
entire  acceptance  of  the  county  and  tlie  people.     He  declined  a  re-appointment. 

In  1851  lie  was  first  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  Wentworth, 
and  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  incorporations.  The  next  year  he 
was  re-elected,  and  was  made  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee;  and  in  1853 
he  was  again  a  member,  and  was  nominated  with  great  unanimity  and  elected 
speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives.  He  served  with  ability  and  impartiality 
and  to  the  general  acceptance  of  the  members.  The  next  winter  a  new  man  was 
to  be  selected  as  a  candidate  for  senator  in  his  district,  and  he  was  nominated,  and 
was  elected  in  March,  in  a  close  district,  by  about  three  hundred  majority.  He 
was  elected  president  of  the  senate  in  1854.  He  was  renominated  in  the  spring 
of  1855,  but  the  Know-Nothing  movement  that  year  carried  everything  before 
it,  and  he  was  defeated,  with  nearly  all  the  other  Democratic  nominees  in  the  state. 

On  April  2,  1855,  he  was  appointed  a  circuit  justice  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas  for  the  state.  But  in  June  of  that  year  the  old  courts  were  abol- 
ished, mainly  upon  political  grounds,  and  new  ones  organized,  and  new  judges 
appointed.  Judge  Sargent  received  a  request  from  Gov.  Metcalf  that  he  would 
accept  the  second  place  on  the  bench  of  the  new  court  of  common  pleas.  This 
offer  had  not  been  expected,  but  upon  consultation  with  friends  it  was  accepted, 
and  Judge  Sargent  was  appointed  an  associate  justice  of  the  court  of  common 
pleas.  He  acted  as  judge  of  the  new  court  of  common  pleas  for  four  years,  until 
1859,  when,  by  a  statute  of  that  year,  that  court  was  abolished,  and  one  new 
judge  was  to  be  added  to  the  supreme  judicial  court,  making  the  number  of 
supreme  judges  six  instead  of  five,  as  before.  Judge  Sargent  was  immediately 
a})pointcd  to  that  place  on  the  supreme  bench.  He  was  then  the  youngest  mem- 
ber of  the  court  in  age,  as  well  as  in  the  date  of  his  commission.  He  remained 
upon  the  bench  of  that  court  just  fifteen  yeai-s,  from  1859  to  1874.  In  March, 
1873,  upon  the  death  of  Chief- Justice  Bellows,  Judge  Sargent  was  appointed 
chief-justice  of  the  state,  which  place  he  held  until  August,  1874,  when  the 
court  was  again  overturned  to  make  room  for  the  appointees  of  the  prevailing 
political  party.     Chief-Justice  Sargent,  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  chief- 


96  JO]SrATHAN   EVERETT    SARGENT,  LL.  D. 

justice,  had  become  the  oldest  judge  upon  the  bench,  both  in  age  and  date  of 
commission.  His  written  opinions  are  contained  in  the  sixteen  volumes  of  the 
New  Hampshire  E.e})orts.  from  the  39th  to  the  54th,  inclusive,  numbering  about 
three  hundred  in  all.  Many  of  these  are  leading  opinions  upon  various  subjects, 
and   show  great  learning  and  research. 

After  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  attempt  to  make 
Kansas  a  slave  state,  Judge  Sargent  acted  with  the  Republican  party. 

Upon  leaving  the  bench,  in  August,  1874,  he  was  solicited  to  go  into  the 
practice  of  the  law  in  Concord  with  William  M.  Chase,  Esq.,  whose  late  partner, 
the  Hon.  Anson  S.  Marshall,  had  recently  been  suddenly  removed  by  death. 
Judge  Sargent  accepted  this  offer,  and  thus  at  once  stepped  into  an  extensive 
and  lucrative  practice.     This  arrangement  was  made  for  five  years. 

In  1876  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  this 
state.  In  this  convention  he  acted  a  prominent  part.  He  was  made  chairman 
of  the  judiciary  committee,  the  same  place  held  by  Judge  Levi  Woodbury  in  the 
convention  of  1850.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  and  discussions  of 
that  body,  and  wielded  an  influence  probably  second  to  no  one  in  the  convention. 
He  was  also  elected,  by  his  ward  in  Concord,  a  member  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives for  the  years  1877  and  1878. 

Early  in  1877  steps  were  taken  for  a  revision  of  the  statutes,  and  Judge 
Sargent  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee,  with  Hon.  L.  W.  Barton  of 
Newport,  and  Judge  J.  S.  Wiggin  of  Exeter,  to  revise  and  codify  the  statutes 
of  the  state.  Their  work  was  completed  and  the  statutes  enacted  by  the  legis- 
lature, to  take  efi"ect  the  first  of  January,  1879.  The  volume  was  prepared  and 
printed  by  the  committee  before  the  day  appointed.  It  is  the  largest  volume 
of  statutes  ever  printed  in  the  state,  and  it  is  believed  not  to  be  inferior  to  any 
other  in  any  important  particular. 

In  the  fall  of  1878,  Judge  Sargent  was  invited  by  a  committee  of  the  citizens 
of  New  London  to  prepare  a  centennial  address,  to  be  delivered  on  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town.  He  at  once  accepted  the 
invitation  and  set  about  the  work,  and  on  the  25th  day  of  June,  1879,  he  deliv- 
ered his  address,  and  the  occasion  was  distinguished  by  a  larger  collection  of 
people,  probably,  than  ever  met  in  the  town  upon  any  former  occasion.  The 
address  was  published  in  the  Granite  Montldij,  in  the  numbers  for  July,  August, 
and  September,  1879,  and  has  been  favorably  noticed  as  a  work  of  great  labor 
and  research. 

Dartmouth  College  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  in  course, 
three  years  after  gradvuition  ;  also,  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  at  its 
centennial  commencement,  in  1869.  In  compliance  with  a  request  from  a  com- 
mittee of  the  trustees,  he  prepared  and  delivered  at  the  commencement  of  1880 
at  Dartmouth  College  a  memorial  address  upon  the  late  Hon.  Joel  Parker,  for- 
merly chief-justice  of  this  state  and  afterwards  professor  of  law  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege. This  duty  Judge  Sargent  performed  in  a  manner  creditable  to  himself  and 
satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  the  late  Judge  Parker.  His  address  has  been  printed 
with  other  similar  addresses  in  memory  of  other  deceased  judges,  graduates  of 
Dartmouth,  by  other  distinguished  sons  of  the  college. 

In  1864  he  was  elected  grand  master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons  for  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  and  was  re-elected  the  next 
year.  After  this  he  declined  a  re-election.  He  has  for  many  years  been  an 
active  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  and  for  the  last  five  or 
six  years  has  been  one  of  its  vice-presidents.  For  some  years  past  he  has  been 
connected  with  the  National  State  Capital  Bank  as  one  of  its  directors.  The 
Loan  and  Trust  Savings  Bank  at  Concord  commenced  business  August  1, 1872, 


JOISTATHAlSr   EVERETT    SARGENT,  LL.  D.  97 

and  in  the  nine  years  since  then  its  deposits  have  increased  to  over  a  million 
and  a  quarter  of  dollars.  Judge  Sargent  has  been  ])resident  of  this  bank,  and 
one  of  its  investment  committee  since  its  commoncemeTit,  and  has  given  his  per- 
sonal attention  to  its  affairs.  In  1ST6  the  New  Hampshire  Centennial  Home 
for  the  Aged  was  organized  and  incorporated,  and  January  1,  1879,  a  home  was 
opened  in  Concord.  Judge  Sargent  has  been  president  of  this  institution  four 
years,  and  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  its  pros])erity  and  success. 

About  the  1st  of  September.  1879,  at  the  end  of  five  years  from  the  com- 
mencement of  his  partnership  in  business,  he  retired  from  the  practice  of  law. 
Since  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law,  in  1848,  his  residence  has  been 
as  follows  :  In  Canaan  four  years,  to  1847  ;  in  Wentworth  twenty-two  years, 
to  1869  ;  and  in  Concord  since.  The  judge  has  ac(juired  a  competency,  has 
<»ue  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  city,  and  is  enjoying  life  with  his  friends  and 
his  books. 

Judge  Sargent  married,  first,  Maria  C.  Jones,  of  Enfield,  daughter  of  John 
Jones,  Esq.,  November  29,  1843,  by  whom  he  had  two  children.  John  Jones 
Sargent,  the  elder,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1866,  and  died  in  Osh- 
kosh,  WLsconsin,  October  3,  1870,  just  as  he  was  ready  to  commence  the  practice 
of  the  law.  The  second,  Everett  Foster,  died  young.  For  his  second  wife,  he 
married  Louisa  Jennie  Paige,  daughter  of  Dea.  James  K.  Paige,  of  Wentworth, 
September  5,  1853,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  children, —  Maria  Louise,  Annie 
Lawrie,  and  George  Lincoln.  The  second  died  young ;  the  eldest  and  youngest 
survive. 

Judge  Sargent  is  a  leading  member  of  the  South  Congregational  church  in 
Concord,  and,  while  decided  in  his  own  opinions,  he  is  liberal  and  tolerant  in 
judging  of  the  faith,  and  charitable  in  judging  of  the  conduct,  of  others.  As 
a  lawyer,  he  was  always  faithful  and  true  to  his  clients,  a  wise  counselor  and 
an  able  advocate.  As  a  legislator,  he  has  been  conservative  and  safe.  As  a 
judge,  he  always  studied  to  get  at  the  right  of  the  case,  to  hold  the  scales  of 
justice  evenly,  to  rule  the  law  plainly,  and  to  get  the  questions  of  fact,  and  the 
evidence  as  it  bore  upon  them,  clearly  and  distinctly  before  the  jury.  Any  one 
who  attended  the  courts  where  he  presided  as  a  judge  could  see  at  once  that  he 
was  patient  and  painstaking,  industrious  and  persevering,  vigilant  and  discrim- 
inating, impartial  and  fearless ;  and  any  one  who  reads  his  written  opinions  will 
see  that  they  exhibit  great  research,  learning,  and  ability. 


JOHN  HATCH  GEORGE. 


BY    H.    H.    METCALP. 


The  man  who  makes  his  way  to  the  front  rank  at  the  bar  and  in  politics, 
and  holds  his  position  without  dispute  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
must  be  a  person  of  ability,  energy,  and  sagacity.  Especially  is  this  true  in 
New  Hampshire,  which,  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  national  history,  has 
produced  some  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  the  keenest  politicians  known  to  the 
country.  Such  a  man  is  CoL.  John  Hatch  George,  of  Concord,  whose  name 
has  long  been  a  household  word  at  every  Democratic  fireside  in  the  state,  and 
whose  eminent  legal  position  is  recognized  throughout  New  England. 

Born  in  Concord,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided,  November  20,  1824,  Col. 
G-eorge  is  now  fifty-seven  years  of  age.  His  parents  were  John  and  Mary 
(Hatch)  George,  the  former  a  prominent,  respected,  and  energetic  citizen,  who, 
though  a  native  of  Hopkinton,  located  in  Concord  in  early  manhood;  the  latter, 
a  daughter  of  Samuel  Hatch,  a  leading  citizen  of  the  town  of  Greenland,  among 
whose  grandchildren  are  included  the  Hon.  Albert  R.  Hatch  and  John  S.  H. 
Frink,  Esq.,  both  also  known  as  eminent  lawyers  and  leading  Democrats. 

Gaining  his  preliminary  education  in  the  excellent  public  schools  of  his 
native  town  and  in  the  old  Concord  Academy,  Col.  George  entered  Dartmouth 
College  in  1840,  being  then  fifteen  years  of  age,  where  he  diligently  pursued  his 
studies  for  about  three  years,  until  the  death  of  his  father  compelled  his  return 
home  and  the  non-completion  of  his  college  course.  The  faculty  subsequently 
conferred  upon  him  his  graduating  degree,  which  was  followed  by  that  of  Master 
of  Arts.  Among  his  classmates  at  Dartmouth  were  several  who  became  promi- 
nent at  the  bar  and  in  public  life,  including  the  late  Hon.  Harvey  Jewell,  and 
Hons.  A.  A.  Ranney  and  Horatio  G.  Parker,  of  Boston,  and  the  present  gov- 
ernor of  this  state,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Bell. 

If  young  George  was  unfortunate  in  the  loss  of  his  father,  and  in  the  failure 
to  complete  the  college  course  consequent  thereon,  he  was  especially  fortunate  in 
being  favored  Avith  the  kindly  regard  of  that  brilliant  son  of  New  Hampshire, 
Gen.  Franklin  Pierce,  who,  as  a  friend  of  the  family,  had  become  conversant 
with  his  qualities  and  characteristics,  and  readily  discerned  the  line  of  action  best 
calculated  for  the  development  and  successful  exercise  of  his  powers.  Fortunate 
as  he  was,  however,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  friendship  of  Gen.  Pierce  at  this 
time,  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that  he  never  would  have  been  the  recipient  of 
such  fcivor  had  he  not  given  evidence  of  the  possession  of  abilities  above  the 
common  order.  The  really  great  lawyer  has  a  lofty  regard  for  his  profession, 
and  will  never  be  found  influencing  any  one  to  enter  upon  its  pursuit  who  is  not 
likely  to  honor  the  profession  and  bring  credit  to  himself.  When,  therefore, 
upon  the  invitation  of  Gen.  Pierce,  young  George  entered  upon  the  study  of  the 
law  in  the  ofiice  of  the  former,  —  as  he  did  soon  after  leaving  college,  and  at  the 
time  when  that  distinguished  man  was  in  active  practice,  —  it  was  under  cir- 
cumstances every  way  propitious  to  that  ultimate  success  creditable  alike  to  each. 


JOHX    HATCH    GEORGE.  99 

During  his  three  years  of  legal  study  under  such  tutelage,  he  made  that  rapid 
progress  which  characterizes  the  advance  of  the  ambitious  and  enthusiastic  young 
man,  well  ecjuippcd,  mentally  and  physically,  for  the  work  in  hand,  thoroughly 
in  love  therewith,  guided  by  wise  counsel  and  inspired  by  brilliant  example;  and 
when,  in  1846,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  his  native  city,  it  was  with  unusual  thoroughness  of  preparation. 

At  the  opening  of  Jiis  professional  career,  Col.  George  was  again  particularly 
fortunate.  Gren.  Charles  H.  Peaslee  had  long  ranked  among  the  most  careful 
lawyers  of  the  state,  and  had  acquired  an  extensive  practice.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  of  Gen.  Pierce,  professionally  and  politically,  and,  like  him,  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  George  family.  Entering  largely  into  public  life,  its  engrossing 
duties  withdrew  his  attention  more  and  more  from  professional  engagements, 
rendering  desirable  a  partnership  alliance  with  some  active  and  competent  young 
man.  Such  alliance  was  offered  to  and  promptly  accepted  by  young  George,  who 
thus  auspiciously  commenced  his  professional  career. 

The  limits  of  this  sketch  will  not  permit  a  detailed  account  of  the  progress 
and  success  of  its  subject ;  but  it  may  be  stated,  that  from  his  entrance  upon  legal 
practice  to  the  present  time  all  his  energies  and  faculties  have  been  heartily 
devoted  to  the  labors  and  duties  of  his  profession,  in  whose  performance  he  has 
won  a  high  measure  of  fame,  as  well  as  a  fair  amount  of  that  substantial  reward 
which  the  world  largely  regards  as  the  prime  object  of  human  effort.  His  con- 
nection with  Gen.  Peaslee  continued  about  five  years,  and  was  followed  by  a  pro- 
fessional alliance  of  a  similar  character  with  Sidney  Webster,  Esq.,  then  a  young 
lawyer  of  fine  abilities  and  brilliant  promise,  who  has  since  become  distinguished 
in  legal  and  diplomatic  circles.  This  partnership  continued  till  Mr.  Webster  left 
Concord  to  become  private  secretary  to  Gen.  Pierce,  upon  the  accession  of  the 
latter  to  the  presidency  in  1853.  Soon  afterward,  Col.  George  formed  partner- 
ship relations  with  Hon.  William  L.  Foster,  who  subsequently  became  and  long 
remained  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and  with  them  Hon.  Charles 
P.  Sanborn  was  also  for  a  time  associated.  Since  the  recent  resignation  of  Judge 
Foster,  his  connection  with  Col.  George  has  been  resumed. 

Not  only  in  behalf  of  an  extensive  private  clientage  have  the  professional  ser- 
vices of  Col.  George  been  employed,  but  for  many  years,  also,  in  behalf  of  the 
public,  —  he  having  been  appointed  solicitor  for  Merrimack  county  in  18-49,  and 
re-appointed  in  1854,  discharging  the  duties  of  the  ofiice  until  1856,  when  he 
was  removed  for  partisan  reasons,  the  Republican  party  signalizing  its  ascendency 
by  a  clean  sweep  of  all  Democratic  oflBcials.  From  1853  to  1858,  he  was  U.  S. 
attorney  for  the  district  of  New  Hampshire,  appointed  by  President  Pierce. 

There  are,  undoubtedly,  many  men  at  the  bar,  in  this  and  other  states,  as  well 
grounded  in  legal  principles  as  Col.  George,  and  even  more  familiar  with  the 
text-books,  who  have  fallen  far  short  of  the  success  he  has  attained.  It  is  one 
thing  to  be  able  to  state  abstract  legal  principles,  and  quite  another  correctly  to 
apply  those  principles  to  the  facts  in  an}-  given  case.  It  has  ever  been  the  habit 
of  Col.  George,  in  the  conduct  of  a  cause,  to  thoroughly  familiarize  himself  with 
all  the  facts  and  circumstances  connected  therewith.  The  mastery  of  the  cause 
itself  leaves  little  difficulty  in  the  determination  of  the  law  bearing  thereon,  and 
is  the  strongest  guaranty  of  success  in  its  management  before  a  jury ;  and  it  is 
in  the  conduct  of  jury  causes  that  Col.  George  has  won  the  greater  measure  of 
his  success.  Gifted  with  great  perceptive  powers  and  a  ready  knowledge  of  men, 
and  familiar  as  he  ever  is  with  the  cause  in  hand,  in  all  its  bearings,  he  is  never 
taken  at  a  disadvantage,  no  matter  how  able  or  alert  the  opposing  counsel.  In 
handling  witnesses,  and  especially  in  cross-examination,  he  has  shown  unusual 
tact  and  ability.  He  reads  the  mind  of  a  witness  almost  intuitively,  and  under- 
stands how  to  bring;  out  the  essential  facts  even  from  the  most  reluctant,  and  to 


100  joh:n^  hatch  george. 

do  so  in  the  manner  best  calculated  to  make  the  desired  impression  upon  the 
minds  of  the  jury.  As  an  advocate,  he  is  equaled  by  few  and  excelled  by  none 
of  our  New  Hampshire  lawyers ;  yet  his  power  in  this  regard  consists  in  the 
systematic,  logical,  and  intensely  earnest  presentation  of  all  the  facts  which  go  to 
make  up  and  strengthen  his  cause,  and  to  destroy  or  weaken  that  of  his  oppo- 
nents, rather  than  in  the  oratory  which  abounds  in  eloquently  rounded  periods 
and  impassioned  appeals.  In  this  connection  may  well  be  quoted  the  words 
of  one  who,  knowing  Col.  George  from  youth,  has  written  of  him  as  follows:  — 

"  Intense  earnestness,  and  a  faculty  of  an  immediate  and  powerful  concentra- 
tion of  all  his  mental  faculties  on  any  subject  which  interested  him,  were  the 
predominant  peculiarities  of  the  early  manhood  of  Mr.  Cleorge.  When  he  came 
to  the  bar,  he  manifested  a  power  of  felicitous  language,  and  a  largeness  of 
vocabulary,  which  were  rarely  to  be  seen  even  in  the  most  practiced  speakers. 
He  never  prepared  beforehand  the  words  of  his  spoken  utterances,  either  at  the 
bar,  in  the  committee-room,  or  on  the  stump.  Whatever  he  could  see  and  under- 
stand at  all,  he  saw  and  understood  clearly.  The  strength  of  his  feelings,  the 
enormous  power  and  range  of  his  vocabulary,  added  to  this  clearness  of  vision, 
made  mere  verbal  preparation  unnecessary  for  him.  His  speaking  was  made  up 
of  a  clear  perception  of  the  turning-point  of  his  case,  and  then  of  pungent  epi- 
gram, sparkling  paradox,  rattling  attack,  vivid  repartee,  hearty  humor,  and,  when 
occasion  called  for,  of  a  fearlessness  of  denunciation  of  what  he  believed  to  be 
wrong  or  unjust  or  unfair,  which  made  him,  even  at  the  outset  of  his  brilliant 
career,  a  dangerous  antagimist  for  the  most  practiced  and  powerful  members  of 
the  New  Hampshire  bar." 

Though  not  retiring  from  general  practice.  Col.  Grcorge  has  devoted  his  atten- 
tion largely  to  railroad  law  for  many  years  past,  having  accepted,  in  1867,  the 
position  of  solicitor  for  the  Boston  &  Lowell  Railroad,  and  established  an  office 
in  Boston  for  the  transaction  of  business  in  connection  with  that  position.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  previous  to  that  date  he  had  served  as  clerk  and  counsel  of 
the  Concord  Railroad  corporation,  and  had  already  become  familiar  with  the  law 
of  railways  and  their  general  relations  to  the  public.  To-day  there  is  no  higher 
living  authority  upon  railroad  law  in  New  England  than  Col.  George, —  no  man 
who  understands  more  thoroughly  or  can  state  more  clearly  the  respective  rights, 
duties,  and  obligations  of  railroad  corporations  and  the  people,  in  relation  to  each 
other,  a  general  understanding  of  which  is  becoming  more  and  more  essential  to 
the  fullest  measure  of  our  national  prosperity.  His  ])ublic  addresses  upon  the 
subject,  his  arguments  before  legislative  committees,  courts,  and  juries,  are  models 
of  clearness  and  cogency,  admirable  in  construction  and  convincing  in  effect. 

Notwithstanding  his  uninterrupted  devotion  to  the  law,  Col.  George  is  no 
less  generally  known  in  jtolitics  than  at  the  bar.  Well  grounded  in  the  faith  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  his  youthful  years,  his  intimate  association  with  Pierce, 
Peaslee,  and  other  distinguished  leaders  of  that  organization  in  his  early  manhood 
served  to  intensify  his  feelings  and  convictions  in  that  regard,  so  he  has  ever  been 
a  ready  and  zealous  exponent  of  Democratic  principles  and  a  champion  of  the 
Democratic  cause,  contributing  his  services  without  stint  in  conventions,  in  com- 
mittee work,  and  upon  the  stump,  doing  able  and  brilliant  service  in  the  latter 
direction  in  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  in  almost  every  campaign  for  the  past 
thirty-five  years.  He  long  since  came  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  powerful 
and  effective  political  debaters  in  the  state.  His  efforts  upon  the  stump  are  char- 
acterized by  the  same  earnestness,  the  same  sledge-hammer  logic,  and  the  same 
comprehensive   array  of  facts,  as  at  the  bar.     His  mode  of  warfare,  political  as 


JOHN    HATCH    GEORGE.  101 

well  as  lejial,  is  of  the  Napoleonic  order.  He  never  assumes  the  defensive,  and 
if  placed  in  such  position  by  any  conihination  of  circumstances  he  soon  trans- 
forms it  into  one  of  active  aggression. 

From  1851  to  ISoH,  inclusive,  Col.  George  served  as  chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic state  committee,  and  again  in  185G.  In  1852  he  was  also  selected  as  the 
New  Hampshire  member  of  the  Democratic  national  committee,  and  he  was 
especially  active  in  the  campaign,  both  in  the  state  and  the  country  at  large, 
which  resulted  in  the  election  of  his  friend,-  Gen.  Pierce,  to  the  presidency.  His 
service  upon  the  national  committee  continued  until  18(30.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Democratic  national  convention  in  1851),  and  chairman  of  the  state  dele- 
gation in  the  national  convention  at  Cincinnati,  in  1880.  At  the  state  convention 
of  his  party,  in  September  of  that  year,  he  presided,  delivering,  upon  assuming 
the  chair,  one  of  the  ablest  addresses  ever  heard  upon  a  similar  occasion. 

His  party  having  been  in  the  minurity  in  New  Hampshire  for  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  he  has  been  comparatively  little  in  public  office  Aside  from  the  non- 
partisan positions  heretofore  mentioned,  he  was  for  three  years  —  in  1847,  1848, 
and  again  in  1850  —  clerk  of  the  state  senate.  In  1853  he  was  chosen  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature,  but  resigned  his  seat  to  accept  the  office  of  United  States 
attorney.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  1855  he  was  tendered, 
by  President  Pierce,  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  territory  of  Minnesota,  which 
he  at  first  was  inclined  to  accept,  but,  after  deliberation,  determined  to  forego  the 
chances  for  political  promotion  ordinarily  involved  in  an  appointment  of  that 
character,  and  remain  with  his  friends  and  his  law  practice  in  his  own  state.  In 
1859,  Col.  George  received  the  Democratic  nomination  for  congress  in  the  second 
district,  and  again  in  18Go,  when  he  made  a  vigorous  canvass,  and  was  defeated 
by  a  very  close  vote.  In  18(56  he  received  the  votes  of  the  Democratic  members 
of  the  legislature  as  their  candidate  for  United  States  senator.  Had  he  deserted 
his  party  and  allied  himself  with  the  majority  when  the  Republicans  came  into 
ascendency,  he  might  readily  have  commanded  the  highest  honors  in  the  gift  of 
the  state,  as  others  less  able  than  himself  have  done ;  but  his  position  in  the 
honest  regard  of  the  people,  irrespective  of  party,  is  far  higher  to-day  for  having 
remained  true  to  his  convictions  and  steadfast  and  active  in  their  maintenance. 

His  military  title  comes  from  his  service  as  chief  of  the  staff"  of  Gov.  Dins- 
moor  from  1848  to  1850.  He  was  also  for  several  years  commander  in  the  bril- 
liant and  popular  organization  known  as  the  "  Governor's  Horse-Guards."  As  a 
popular  orator,  outside  the  domain  of  law  and  politics.  Col.  George  also  takes 
high  rank.  His  oration  upon  Daniel  Webster,  at  the  recent  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  birth  of  that  most  illustrious  son  of  New  Hampshire,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Webster  club  of  Concord,  is  surpassed  in  power  and  felicity  of 
expression  by  none  which  the  event  anywhere  called  forth. 

Col.  George  was  united  in  marriage,  in  September,  1849,  with  Miss  Susan  Ann 
Brigham,  daughter  of  Capt.  Levi  Brigham,  of  Boston,  who  died  May  10,  1862, 
leaving  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  In  July,  1864,  he  married 
Miss  Salvadora  Meade  Graham,  daughter  of  Col.  James  D.  Graham  of  the 
United  States  engineers,  by  whom  he  has  one  child,  a  daughter.  His  eldest 
son,  John  Paul,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1878,  entered  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  and  is  now  a  student-at-law  in  the  office  of  George  &  Foster.  His 
second  son,  Charles  Peaslee,  graduated  in  June,  1881,  at  the  naval  school  at 
Annapolis,  and  is  now  a  midshipman  in  the  U.  S.  navy.  His  third  son,  Benja- 
min Pierce,  is  a  member  of  the  sophomore  class  in  Dartmouth  College.  His 
eldest  daughter,  Jane  Appleton,  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Bacon,  and  resides 
in  Portland,  Me. ;  his  second  daughter,  Anne  Brigham,  is  at  home ;  while  the 
youngest  daughter,  Charlotte  Graham,  is  at  school  in  Washington,  D.  C. 


102  JOHN   HATCH    GEORGE. 

The  family  residence  of  Col.  Greorge  is  the  old  paternal  mansion  on  North 
Main  street,  in  Concord,  wherein  he  was  born.  He  has  also  an  excellent  farm  a 
few  miles  out  of  the  city,  in  Hopkinton,  where  he  makes  his  summer  home,  and 
where,  in  his  little  leisure  from  professional  labor,  he  indulges  a  fondness  for  rural 
pursuits,  and  especially  for  the  breeding  and  care  of  domestic  animals,  which  was 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  his  boyhood.  Incidental  as  this  may  be,  his  farm 
is  known  as  one  of  the  most  highly  cultivated  in  the  section  where  it  is  located, 
and  his  horses  and  Jersey  cattle  are  the  admiration  of  all   lovers  of  good  stock. 

As  a  citizen.  Col.  George  is  public-spirited,  and  freely  devotes  his  time  and  ener- 
gies to  the  furtherance  of  every  movement  and  the  advocacy  of  every  measure 
which  he  believes  calculated  to  promote  the  material  or  educational  welfare  ot 
the  community.  No  man  in  Concord  has  done  more  than  he  to  advance  the 
prosperity  of  the  city  in  every  essential  regard.  The  efficiency  of  the  public 
schools  has  ever  been  an  object  of  deep  interest  to  him;  and  as  a  private  citizen, 
as  a  member  of  building  committees,  and  in  the  board  of  education,  he  has  given 
his  services  freely  in  perfecting  the  admirably  equipped  public-school  system, 
which  is  far  from  the  least  of  the  attractions  which  render  our  capital  city  one 
of  the  most  desirable  places  of  residence  in  New  England. 

The  general  extension  of  the  railway  system  of  the  state,  to  which  most  that 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  development  of  its  material  resources  for  the  last 
twenty-five  years  is  due,  has  ever  found  an  enthusiastic  supporter  in  Col.  George, 
who  has  been  and  still  is  directly  connected  with  several  railroad  enterprises  in 
different  sections,  which  have  proved  of  great  local  and  general  advantage. 

Few  men  have  more  or  warmer  friends  than  Col.  George.  A  man  of  positive 
opinions,  frankly  and  honestly  declared,  he  commands  the  sincere  respect  of 
those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  private,  social, 
public,  and  professional.  Formidable  as  an  opponent,  he  is  nevertheless  fair  and 
honorable,  as  he  is  true  and  faithful  as  a  friend  and  ally.  He  is  a  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  order,  having  attained  the  rank  of  sovereign  grand  inspector- 
general  of  the  33d  degree,  and  a  member  of  the  "  Supreme  Council  of  the  Ancient 
and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite  of  the  Northern  Jurisdiction  of  the  United  States." 

This  brief  sketch  can  perhaps  be  no  more  appropriately  concluded  than  in  the 
following  language  of  the  gentleman  (Sidney  Webster,  Esq.,)  heretofore  quoted: 

"  Years  of  incessant  toil,  while  they  have  diminished  somewhat  the  energetic 
temperament  and  the  exuberant  animal  spirits  of  Col.  George's  youth,  and  have 
naturally  softened  his  once  blunt  and  almost  brusque  manner  in  debate,  have  not 
diminished  the  real  force  and  strength  of  his  genuine  character,  for  cJiaracter 
is  just  what  Col.  George  has  always  had.  As  the  ripples  of  his  experience  spread 
over  a  wider  and  wider  area,  he  may  have  less  and  less  confidence  in  the  infalli- 
bility of  any  man's  opinions,  and  less  belief  in  the  importance  to  society  of  any 
one  man's  action  ;  but  Col.  George  has  reached  and  passed  his  half  century  with 
his  mental  faculties  and  his  moral  faculties  improving  and  strengthening,  year 
by  year.  New  Hampshire  has  to-day  very  few  among  her  living  sons  better 
equipped  to  do  triumphant  battle  for  her  in  the  high  places  of  the  world." 


yU^'^M^^^.-t^ 


WILLIAM   GORDON  MEANS. 


WiLLAM  (rORDON  Means,  foi"  Sixteen  years  clerk  and  paymaster  of  the 
Amoskeag  Manufacturing  Company,  and  afterwards  treasurer  of  the  Manchester 
Locomotive-Works,  was  born  at  Amherst,  Hillsborough  county,  April  27,  1815. 
He  is  of  the  third  generation  in  descent  from  Col.  Hobert  Means,  who  came  to 
New  Hampshire  from  Stewartstown,  Ireland,  in  17G6,  and  commenced  business 
at  Merrimack,  with  Dea.  Jacob  McGaw,  who  emigrated  to  this  country  about  the 
same  year.  This  partnership,  which  had  prospered,  was  dissolved  when  Amherst 
became  the  shire  town,  and  Col.  Means  opened  a  store  there,  in  which  he  prose- 
cuted a  successful  business.  A  man  of  great  energy,  he  was  prominent  in  the 
afiairs  of  the  town  ;  elected  its  representative  at  the  general  court  three  times, 
also  a  member  of  the  senate  three  years,  and  councilor  for  Hillsborough  county, 
his  name  is  identified  with  the  most  important  measures  of  that  period. 

Col.  Means  had  a  large  family.  Several  of  the  daughters  were  married  to 
gentlemen  who  subsequently  attained  great  distinction  in  the  learned  professions. 
Of  the  sons,  Robert  became  a  lawyer,  and  David  McGregor,  who  bore  the  name 
of  his  mother  (a  daughter  of  Rev.  David  McGregor  of  Londonderry),  succeeded 
his  father  as  a  merchant.  He  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Hon.  Joshua 
Atherton,  who  is  described  as  a  woman  of  vigorous  understanding  and  positive 
convictions,  ready  in  conversation,  and  of  sprightly  and  pleasing  manners.  By 
this  marriage,  David  McG.  Means  had  three  sons  and  six  daughters,  of  whom 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  third  son  and  the  fourth  child,  receiving  the 
name  of  his  uncle,  Hon.  William  Gordon,  at  that  time  a  lawyer  of  great  promise 
in  Amherst. 

Among  his  schoolmates.  William  G.  Means  is  remembered  as  a  quick-witted 
boy,  fond  of  adventure,  and  overflowing  with  fun.  The  schools  in  Amherst  at 
that  date  did  not  furnish  advantages  of  a  high  order.  Aside  from  the  training 
of  the  household,  the  youth  had  no  superior  privileges,  except  a  few  terms  at 
Pinkerton  Academy,  Derry,  then  under  the  care  of  Abel  F.  Hildreth,  an  eminent 
teacher.  For  parts  of  three  years  he  attended  this  school,  in  company  with  his 
brother  James,  Edward  and  Alfred  Spalding,  E.  D.  Boylston,  and  other  students 
from  Amherst. 

In  the  autumxi  of  1830,  Mr.  Means  went  to  Boston,  and  entered  the  store  of 
Daniel  McGregor,  then  a  dealer  in  dry  goods,  —  finding  employment,  after  an 
apprenticeship  of  four  or  five  years,  in  the  house  of  Robert  Appleton  &  Co. 
By  the  commercial  crisis  of  1837,  like  hundreds  of  young  men  similarly  situ- 
ated, he  was  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  returned  to  his  home  in  Amherst. 
These  years  of  service  in  Boston  were  not  without  their  valuable  uses,  though  a 
new  direction  was  soon  to  be  given  to  his  capacity  for  business.  He  saw  the 
perils  that  beset  the  career  of  the  tradesman,  and  learned  the  wisdom  of  that 
conservatism  which  underlies  the  avenues  of  success  in  mercantile  pursuits. 
While  living  in  Boston,  he  became  interested  in  the  lady  who  was  subsequently 
to  share  his  fortunes  and  build  his  house. 


104  WILLIAM    GORDON^   MEAIN^S. 

In  Marcli,  1838,  Mr.  Means  became  clerk  of  the  Amoskeag  Manufacturing 
Company  at  Manchester,  taking  charge  of  the  books  and  pay-rolls  of  the  land 
and  water-power  department,  then  under  the  direction  of  Robert  Read,  Esq. 
The  city  had  no  existence  except  in  the  plans  of  the  projectors.  There  was  not 
a  mill  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  not  a  building  except  the  scattered  farm- 
houses ;  the  canal  had  been  laid  out,  a  site  for  a  cotton  mill  set  off,  but  nothing 
was  finished.  It  was  during  this  constructive  period  of  the  city's  history  that  he 
was  occupied  with  the  oversight  of  workmen,  the  execution  of  land  sales,  and 
the  varied  duties  of  the  Amoskeag  counting-room,  thus  gathering  the  knowledge 
and  experience  which  qualified  him  for  the  important  agencies  that  have  since 
engrossed  his  time. 

In  1854,  desiring  a  more  independent  position,  he  resigned  his  place  in  the 
Amoskeag  company,  and  united  with  0.  W.  Bailey,  Aretas  Blood,  and  Joseph 
M.  Stone  in  organizing  a  company  for  building  railway  engines.  By  the  act  of 
incorporatiop,  they  took  the  name  of  "  Manchester  Locomotive- Works."  With- 
out adequate  capital,  and  with  adverse  times,  the  projectors  of  the  enterprise  had 
a  weary  struggle  before  them.  Having  no  reputation  as  builders,  and  with 
limited  capacity  for  production,  it  was  not  easy  to  obtain  patronage ;  but  with 
the  pluck  and  persistence  which  deserved  success,  the  proprietors  determined  to 
make  only  first-class  engines.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  they  had  gained  a  posi- 
tion which  commanded  wide  confidence,  and  they  then  began  to  divide  profits. 
Since  that  time,  with  occasional  interruptions,  the  business  has  steadily  increased, 
so  that,  in  the  number,  size,  and  weight  of  the  engines  now  constructed,  the 
product  of  a  month  often  exceeds  in  value  the  entire  product  of  some  pre- 
vious years. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Means  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  Salmon  Falls  Manufac- 
turing Company.  The  mills  of  this  company  were  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
state,  and  for  convenience  of  access  he  removed  his  family  to  Andover,  Mass.,  still 
retaining  his  place  as  treasurer  of  the  locomotive-works,  and  having  an  office  for 
the  business  of  both  companies  in  Boston.  Under  his  management  the  condition 
of  the  Salmon  Falls  company  was  much  improved.  The  capital  stock  of  the 
company  was,  by  cash  payment  to  its  stockholders,  reduced  from  $1,000,000  to 
$600,000.  New  mills  were  erected,  and  the  productive  capacity  of  the  concern 
enlarged  by  one-fourth,  without  any  assessments  or  sacrifices  on  the  part  of  the 
stockholders,  —  a  result  which  illustrates  beyond  dispute  the  good  judgment 
and  skill  of  the  management.  Mr.  Means  resigned  the  treasurership  Septem- 
ber 1,  1877. 

On  the  2Gth  day  of  February,  1840,  Mr.  Means  was  married  to  Martha 
Allen,  daughter  of  Bethuel  and  Martha  (Bent)  Allen,  of  Newton,  Mass.  They 
have  had  eight  children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living,  —  four  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  sons,  as  they  have  reached  manhood,  have  found  employment  in  the 
corporations  with  which  the  father  is  connected. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Means  has  been  Whig  and  Republican.  Conversant  with  the 
affairs  of  government,  and  a  careful  observer  of  public  men,  he  has  manifested  a 
generous  appreciation  of  the  good  qualities  of  those  with  whom  he  did  not  agree. 
Loving  justice,  and  abhorring  the  wrongs  by  which  any  class  of  his  fellowmen 
suffered  injury,  he  strongly  adhered  to  the  principles  and  steadfastly  upheld  the 
policy  of  the  party  with  which  he  voted.  In  1854  he  was  elected  representative 
from  ward  three  in  Manchester,  and  served  one  term  in  the  house  at  Concord. 
Having  removed  from  ward  three,  he  was  not  returned  a  second  time. 

In  religion,  Mr.  Means  has  firmly  held  to  the  evangelical  system  of  doctrine. 
In  early  manhood  he  made  profession  of  his  faith  by  uniting  with  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  his  native  town  ;  transferring  his  membership  to  the  Hanover- 
street  church  in  Manchester,  and  thence  to  the  South  church  in  Andover,  with 


WILLIAM    GOIIDON    MEANS.  105 

successive  chances  of  residence.  In  all  of  these  places  lie  has  proved  a  stanch 
friend  of  the  ministry  and  a  liberal  supporter  of  Christian  institutions.  A  man 
of  clear  convictions  and  of  marked  independence  of  character,  he  has  not  stood 
aloof  from  the  community,  but,  cherishing  a  hearty  respect  for  human  nature,  he 
has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  ])opular  movements  in  behalf  of  education  and 
local  improvements.  To  the  appeals  for  charitable  aid,  whether  coming  from 
individuals  or  churches  or  institutions  of  learning,  the  response  has  been  cordial. 
The  establishment  of  the  Means  prizes  at  Phillips  Academy  illustrates  his  dis- 
criminating beneficence.  In  times  of  difficulty  and  depression  he  has  been  helpful 
in  bearing  burdens,  making  good  deficiencies,  and  (juietly  u])holding  the  cause  he 
had  espoused. 

For  a  few  years  ])ast  the  family  have  spent  the  winter  season  in  Boston ;  but, 
whether  in  city  or  country,  the  man  is  unchanged.  He  is  still  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  church  and  the  state,  thoughtful  of  his  friends  and  former  asso- 
ciates, considerate  of  neighbors,  and  bestowing  sympathy  and  assistance  where 
they  are  needed,  seeks  to  keep  alive  the  ancient  virtues  of  New  England  life,  and 
maintain  the  best  standards  of  service  and  citizenship. 


BX-GOVHRNOR  FREDERICK  SMYTH. 


Frederick  Smyth  was  born  March  19,  1819,  in  Candia,  Kockinpjliam 
county,  N.  H.  His  ancestors  were  farmers,  men  and  women  of  thrift  and  intel- 
ligence. He  was  trained  in  the  hardest  kind  of  farm  labor,  receiving,  in  addition, 
such  education  as  the  good  common  schools  of  that  town  could  give,  supple- 
mented by  a  brief  course  at  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  Mass.  With  a  view 
to  further  education,  he  taught  school  several  winters,  and  in  1839  found  employ- 
ment at  the  store  of  George  Porter,  Esq.,  in  Manchester.  Elm  street  was  then 
a  sandy  and  uninviting  thoroughfare,  with  only  one  other  store.  At  the  end  of 
the  year  Mr.  Smyth's  employer  persuaded  him  to  give  up  the  idea  of  a  college 
education  and  adopt  a  mercantile  life.  He  soon  became  a  partner  in  the  busi- 
ness, which  was  successfully  carried  on  until  1849,  in  which  year  he  was  elected 
city  clerk,  — the  beginning  of  a  long  official  career,  local  and  national. 

In  1852,  Mr.  Smyth  was  elected  mayor,  the  city  then  containing  a  population 
of  fifteen  thousand.  Mayor  Smyth's  first  message  contained  many  practical  sug- 
gestions ;  for  instance,  that  the  police  or  school  committee  be  empowered  to  take 
vagrant  children  from  the  streets  and  put  them  in  school ;  that  proper  sidewalks 
be  constructed  and  maintained ;  and  that  a  special  committee  be  appointed  to 
confer  with  the  corporations  in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  pure  water.  In 
May  of  that  year  he  set  trees  on  Elm  street,  the  commons,  and  about  land  owned 
by  the  city.  To  this  matter  the  mayor  gave  his  personal  attention,  and  not  only 
at  that  time  but  every  year  since,  with  few  exceptions,  has  inspected  the  trees  and 
given  notice  to  the  proper  authorities  of  any  lack.  This  thorough  attention  to 
detail,  and  desire  for  doing  the  work  belonging  to  his  office  personally  and  not  by 
proxy,  was  characteristic  of  Mayor  Smyth.  In  March,  1853,  he  was  re-elected 
l)y  an  increased  majority,  and  the  year  was  marked  by  the  annexation  of  parts 
of  Bedford  and  (loflFstown  to  Manchester,  and  by  the  rebuilding  of  the  Amoskeag 
Falls  bridge. 

The  subject  of  lighting  the  streets  with  gas  was  first  introduced  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  city  councils  at  that  time,  and  a  few  lamps  experimentally  established. 
The  free  public  library  was  also  urged,  —  a  recommendation  then  somewhat  in 
advance  of  the  popular  sentiment.  It  was,  however,  advocated  by  the  late  Hon. 
Samuel  D.  Bell  and  some  others,  and  was  finally  carried  through  both  branches 
of  the  city  government  without  serious  opposition.  It  has  resulted  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  library  of  which  any  city  might  be  proud,  and  a  building  for  its 
accommodation  costing,  with  the  recent  annex,  nearly  forty  thousand  dollars. 
A  special  vote  of  the  trustees  at  that  time  recorded  their  appreciation  of  Mayor 
Smyth's  eifective  exertions  in  the  matter.  Having  been  a  third  time  elected 
mayor  and  with  still  increased  majority,  the  annual  message  of  1854  set  forth 
the  working  plan  of  the  library,  proposed  a  change  of  city  charter  to  allow  the 
consolidation  of  school-districts,  and  again  urged  the  imperative  need  of  a  supply 
(•f  pure  water.  At  the  close  of  this  term  of  office  he  declined  a  re-election,  but 
was  soon  appointed,  by  the  governor,  chairman  of  a  committee  to  locate  and  build 


American BanlcNote  Co  Boston. 


GOVERNOR  OF  NEV/ HAMPSHIRE  1865-66. 


EX-(rOVERN()H     FlM-.DEKrCK    >^>[YTH.  107 

a  house  of  "  reformat  ion  for  juvenile  oflenders."  His  associates  in  this  work  were 
the  late  Hon.  Matthew  Harvey,  ex-governor,  and  judge  of  the  I'nit^d  States 
circuit  court,  and   Hon.  Hosea   Eaton. 

The  first  report  of  the  commissioners  was  a  vindication  of  the  humane  policy  ot 
the  state,  containing  a  sketch  of  what  had  been  done  in  this  and  other  countries 
for  the  reform  of  young  oflenders,  with  a  full  report  of  progress  made.  In  May, 
1858,  the  house  was  dedicated  to  its  purpose  with  aj)propriate  ceremonies,  and 
the  commissioners  were  complimented  by  (Jov.  Haile  for  the  fidelity  with  which 
the  task  was  accom})lished.  While  engaged  in  the  supervision  of  this  work,  Mr. 
Smyth  represented  ward  three  in  Manchester  in  the  legislature  of  1857  and  1858. 
He  was  made  treasurer  of  the  reform  school  and  of  the  N.  H.  Agricultural  Society, 
holding  the  latter  officv  during  ten  years  of  its  greatest  usefulness.  It  was  in 
this  time.  Judge  Nesmith  being  president,  that  Daniel  Webster  spoke  at  one  of 
the  annual  fairs  in  ^Manchester  to  the  farmers  of  his  native  state,  and  Edward 
Everett  made  one  of  those  matchless  speeches  which  lives  in  perennial  beauty  like 
the  landscape  it  describes.  Mr.  Smyth  was  at  the  same  time  a  director  of  the 
U.  S.  Agricultural  Society,  manager  of  the  fairs  held  by  that  association  at  Louis- 
ville. Richmond,  Chicago,  and  Cincinnati,  and  vice-president  of  the  American 
Pomological  Society.  Such  varied  activities  having  brought  him  favorably  to  the 
attention  of  people  throughout  the  state,  he  received  some  votes  in  the  conven- 
tion which  nominated  the  Hon.  Ichabod  Goodwin  for  governor.  The  next  year 
Mr.  Smyth  was  made  president  of  the  convention.  In  1860  he  was  appointed, 
by  Secretary  Chase,  an  agent  to  receive  subscriptions  to  the  national  loan,  and 
being  cashier  and  principal  business  manager  of  the  Merrimack  River  Bank  and 
of  the  savings  bank,  he  invested  largely  for  them  in  government  bonds.  The 
bank  of  discount  soon  after  became  known  as  the  '•  First  National  Bank." 

In  1861.  Mr.  Smj^th  was  appointed  by  government  a  commissioner  to  the 
International  Exhibition  at  London,  and  was  then  made  one  of  the  jurors. 
The  favorable  exhibit  made  by  the  textile  fabrics  of  Manchester  was  in  no  small 
degree  owing  to  the  care  with  which  he  looked  after  their  disposal.  His  ap- 
pointment gave  him  unusual  facilities  for  study  and  observation  in  the  highest 
circles  of  London  and  England,  and  he  was  also  accredited  fn-m  the  various  asso- 
ciated bodies  with  which  he  was  connected  at  home  to  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society.  T^pon  these  and  kindred  topics  he  wrote  some  interesting  letters,  which 
were  published  in  the  ]V.  If.  Jonnidl  of  Aqrirn/fiire.  He  also  took  a  trip  on 
the  Continent,  accompanied  by  C  L.  Flint,  Ks(p,  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
board  of  agriculture.  The  gathering  proportions  of  the  war  at  home,  however, 
led  him  to  cut  short  his  travels,  and  he  arrived  at  New  York,  via  London,  in 
September.  He  now  gave  his  time  to  the  care  of  the  banks,  encouraging  sub- 
scriptions to  the  national  loans,  and  taking  active  part  in  measures  calculated  to 
strengthen   faith  in  the  administration. 

In  May,  1863,  a  fair  was  held  in  Smyth's  Hall  in  aid  of  the  sanitary  commis- 
sion, at  which  nearly  four  thousand  dollars  were  raised.  Mr.  Smyth  gave  the 
use  of  the  hall  and  his  personal  efforts  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  sparing  no 
pains  to  make  the  occasion  successful ;  and  his  enthusiasm  and  zeal  stimulated 
that  of  others.  After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  of  the  Wilderness,  he  went 
to  the  front  and  gave  efiicient  aid  in  caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  One  result 
of  exposure  to  the  burning  sun  and  malaria  of  the  battle-field  was  the  first 
serious  illness  of  his  life.  In  that  same  year,  when  the  importance  of  good  mu- 
nicipal government  was  felt  to  be  superior  to  partisan  considerations,  at  the  solici- 
tation of  men  prominent  in  both  parties.  Mi-.  Smyth  allowed  his  name  to  be 
used  as  a  candidate  for  mayor  the  fourth  time.  He  was  elected  practically  with- 
out opposition,  and  his  election  had  the  desired  effect,  to  give  confidence  to 
all  classes  and  stability  to  the  financial  standing  of  the  city. 


108  EX-CiOVERNOE    FREDEEICK    SMYTH. 

It  has  been  noticed  ttat  he  was  thought  of  before  this  as  a  possible  candi- 
date for  governor,  and  the  feeling  had  so  strengthened  that  in  1865  he  was 
nominated  for  that  office,  his  chief  competitor  in  the  convention  being  the  late 
Hon.  Onslow  Stearns.  The  nomination  proved  a  very  popular  one,  and  after  an 
active  canvass  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  over  six  thousand,  the  highest 
given  to  any  man  for  twenty-four  years.  Such  support  was  very  gratifying  to 
the  governor-elect ;  but,  nevertheless,  he  felt  that  he  had  undertaken  no  light 
task.  The  state  debt,  which  heretofore  in  times  of  peace  seldom  exceeded  a  few 
thousands,  had  now  arisen  to  millions.  Moreover,  loans  must  be  made  in  compe- 
tition with  other  states  and  with  the  general  government.  State  bonds  were  hard 
to  sell  at  an}'  price,  and  all  the  time  expenditures  were  going  on.  In  less  than 
three  months  from  Governor  Smyth's  inaugural  message  he  had  raised,  by  per- 
sonal solicitation,  largely  from  banks  at  Manchester,  over  one  million  of  dollars,  and 
the  credit  of  the  state,  strained  but  not  impaired  by  its  patriotic  efforts,  was  firmly 
re-established.  Much  time  in  this  year  was  occupied  in  the  reception  and  discharge 
of  returning  soldiers,  and  from  June  until  Christmas  day,  when  the  last  regiment 
was  mustered  out,  the  state  echoed  to  the  tread  of  the  home-coming  veterans. 

Grovernor  Smyth's  correspondence  at  this  time  reveals  great  care  taken  for  the 
needs  of  the  men,  for  inmates  of  military  hospitals,  or  for  companies  unneces- 
sarily detained  in  camp.  In  this  busy  period  he  found  time  to  make  brief 
practical  speeches  at  Portsmouth,  Milford,  and  various  other  places,  each  of  them 
calculated  to  draw  attention  to  the  resources  and  credit  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
to  foster  a  healthy  confidence  in  our  ability  to  overcome  every  difficulty.  He  also 
delivered  in  Concord  the  annual  address  before  the  New  p]ngland  Agricultural 
Society,  the  late  Govs.  Andrew  of  Massachusetts  and  Buckingham  of  Connect- 
icut, with  other  N.  E.  governors,  being  present,  and  highly  commending  the  address. 
This  year  Governor  Smyth  was  made  one  of  the  corporators  of  the  national 
asylums  for  disabled  soldiers,  and  served  on  the  committee  whose  duty  it  was  to 
arrange  the  working  details,  with  Gen.  Grant,  Admiral  Farragut,  Gen.  Butler, 
Surg. -Gen.  Barnes,  Hon.  H.  J.  Baymond,  ex-Gov.  Todd,  and  Admiral  Davis. 

In  1866  he  was  unanimously  nominated  for  re-election  as  governor,  and,  as 
before,  chosen  by  a  handsome  majority.  Some  events  of  the  second  year  are  of 
much  interest.  The  appointment  of  Dr.  Bouton  as  state  historian,  resulting  in  the 
preservation  and  publication  of  the  Provincial  E-ecords,  was  a  peculiarly  fitting 
act ;  laws  in  regard  to  the  river  fisheries  were  carried  into  eff"ect ;  and  initial  steps 
taken  toward  the  foundation  of  the  Agricultural  College,  of  Avhich  Gov.  Smyth  is 
at  this  date  a  trustee  and  the  treasurer.  The  financial  and  executive  report  of  the 
two  years'  work  is  very  concisely  given  in  the  valedictory  address  of  June  6, 
1867.  On  two  occasions  the  governor  spoke  briefly  at  the  annual  dinner  of  the 
sons  of  New  England,  at  Delmonico's  in  New  York,  and  was  very  warmly  re- 
ceived. Some  of  the  most  influential  and  respectable  papers  of  the  state  advo- 
cated his  nomination  for  a  third  term ;  he,  however,  definitely  declined  the  honor 
in  a  letter  to  the  Statesman..  He  was  a  delegate  at  large  to  the  Bepublican 
national  convention  which  renominated  Gen.  Grant,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the 
last  constitutional  convention  of  New  Hampshire.  In  18(i6  he  was  chosen,  by 
vote  of  congress,  one  of  the  managers  of  the  military  asylums  for  six  years,  other 
members  of  the  board  being  Hon.  R.  J.  Oglesby  of  Illinois,  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler, 
Hon.  L.  B.  (Junekel  of  Ohio,  Jay  Cooke  of  Philadelphia,  and  Gen.  Martindale 
of  New  York,  with  the  President,  Secretary  of  War,  and  Chief- Justice,  cj:  olficiis, 
any  one  of  whom  had  authority  tp  admit  to  the  Homes  on  ajiplication  being  made 
in  due  form.  The  proper  discharge  of  these  duties  involved  a  vast  amount  of 
correspondence,  much  travel,  and  constant  care.  Gov.  Smyth  was  re-elected  for 
a  second  six  years'  term  in  1872,  and  was  vice-president  of  the  board.     In  1878. 


EX-GOVERXOR    FREDERICK    SMYTH.  109 

the  house  l)eing  Democratic  and  the  senate  nearly  a  tie,  G^en.  Shields  was  proposed 
jis  his  successor,  hut  failed  of  an  election.  Two  years  later,  however,  thi-  Democ- 
racy were  able  to  unite  on  a  successor. 

Since  the  close  of  his  term  as  governor,  he  has  delivered  addresses  on  several 
occasions.  —  one  before  the  Vermont  State  Agricultural  Society,  another  at  the 
dedication  of  a  soldiers'  monument  at  Washington,  N.  II.,  and.  later,  the  "Oration 
to  the  Unknown  Dead,"  delivered  on  "  Decoration  Day"  before  Louis  Bell  Post 
No.  8.  IJ.  A.  R.,  in  18S0:  and  in  ISSl.  an  address  on  a  similar  occasion  at 
Rochester,  X.  H. 

In  187S  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Hayes,  honorary  commissioner  to  the 
International  Exposition  at  Paris.  Accom]ianied  by  Mrs.  Smyth,  he  left  New 
York,  April  24,  in  the  steamer  Russia,  for  Liverpool.  Visiting  London  and  some 
English  cities  by  the  way,  they  reached  Paris  at  the  grand  opening.  Soon  after 
they  left  Marseilles  for  Alexandria,  Egypt,  and  from  thence  made  a  tour  of  the 
Holy  Land,  n'a  Cairo,  Ismailia.  and  the  Suez  canal,  afterward  journeying  to  the 
Levant,  stopping  at  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  Athens,  and  ot'-^er  points  of  interest. 
They  were  received  with  uniform  courtesy  and  attention  by  officials  at  the 
U.  S.  legations,  and  particularly  spoke  of  the  interest  manifested  in  their  welfare 
by  Ministers  Noyes  at  Paris,  Maynard  in  Constantinople.  Reed  at  Athens,  Consul- 
General  Fairman  at  Cairo.  Nearly  everywhere  they  seem  to  have  found  friends 
to  smooth  the  roughness  of  the  traveler's  path ;  and  on  their  return  to  Paris,  which 
they  did  by  way  of  Rome,  Switzerland,  and  most  of  the  continental  cities,  it  was 
regarded  as  an  exceptional  piece  of  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the  memorial 
(celebration  in  honor  of  ^I.  Thiers.  Ex. -Gov.  Smyth  was  there  also  received 
as  a  member  of  the  Stanley  club.  While  thus  absent,  he  wrote  a  series  of  inter- 
esting letters,  which  were  published  in  the  Mirror  and  American,  and  read  with 
pleasure  by  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances.  Since  returning  from  the  East  he 
and  Mrs.  Smyth  have  made  an  extended  trip  into  Mexico,  touching  at  Cuba  by 
the  way.  Their  experience  in  that  land  of  the  sun  appears  to  have  been  equally 
pleasant  with  that  in  other  places. 

The  ex-governor.  fre(|uently  if  not  always  accompanied  by  his  wife,  has  visited 
almost  every  nook  and  corner  of  our  own  land  excei)t,  possibly,  Alaska,  and  is 
therefore  well  qualified  to  make  comparisons.  This  long  and  varied  experience 
in  aifairs,  in  ac(juaintance  with  men.  and  in  travel,  has  made  him  a  very  interest- 
ing man  in  conversation  whenever  he  chooses  to  indulge  in  the  reminiscences  of  a 
not  distant  past.  His  house  abounds  in  tokens  of  travel,  curious  and  rare  bits 
from  many  lands,  and  he  has  entertained  there,  from  time  to  time,  many  distin- 
guished guests.  Before  local  associations  and  to  personal  friends  he  has  given 
some  familiar  and  delightful  talks  on  what  he  has  seen  in  these  vacations  of  a  busy 
life.  He  also  pays  the  penalty  of  success  in  other  ways,  which,  if  flattering,  are 
not  always  agreeable.  His  advice  is  daily  sought,  not  only,  as  is  natural,  in  finan- 
cial and  political  matters,  but  on  matters  more  remote  from  his  habits  of  thought. 
But,  whatever  it  may  be.  he  gives  cheerfully,  and  no  man  more  readily  lends  a 
hand  to  tho.se  who  are  trying  to  help  themselves. 

Offices  of  trust  also  flock  to  one  who  has  proved  himself  capable  of  taking 
good  care  of  his  own  aftairs,  and  among  appointments  which  he  holds  at  this  date, 
not  before  named,  are  :  director  of  the  Concord,  Suncook  Valley,  and  Boston 
&  Acton  railroads  ;  director  and  treasurer  of  the  Manchester  Horse-Railroad ; 
vice-president  of  the  New  England  Agricultural  Society ;  president  and  director 
of  the  Northern  Telegraph  Company  ;  treasurer  of  the  Elliot  hospital ;  cashier 
and  manager  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Manchester  ;  trustee  and  treasurer 
of  the  Merriinack  River  Savings  Bank ;  vice-president  of  the  American  Pomo- 
logical  Society.  In  18G6  the  faculty  of  Dartmouth  College  conferred  on  him 
the  degree  of  A.  B. 


CHARLES  ELLIOTT  TILTON. 


Charles  Elliott  Tilton,  son  of  Hon.  Samuel  Tilton,  was  born  in  San- 
bornton,  September  14,  1827,  and  in  that  part  set  off  and  incorporated  as  the 
town  of  Tilton.  He  received  his  early  education  in  the  common  schools,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  was  put  under  the  instruction  of  Prof.  Dyer  H.  Sanborn  of 
Sanbornton  Academy.  Later  he  was  admitted  into  the  Norwich  University  (a 
military  school),  where  he  remained  three  years. 

When  war  was  declared  with  Mexico,  Gen.  Ransom,  the  president  of  the 
university,  was  commissioned  to  raise  a  regiment,  and  induced  nearly  every  student 
to  enlist,  offering  young  Tilton  the  command  of  a  company,  which  honor,  through 
the  influence  of  his  father,  was  declined.  About  this  date  he  left  home,  going  to 
New  York,  where  he  remtftned  with  his  brother  a  short  time. 

He  then  sailed  for  the  West  Indies  and  South  America  in  pursuit  of  a  for- 
tune. At  this  point  a  business  career  was  inaugurated  which  for  thirty  years 
called  for  untiring  labor.  He  visited  all  the  islands,  prospected  the  Orinoco  and 
Amazon  rivers  to  their  head  waters,  went  overland  to  Caracas  and  La  Guayra, 
thence  to  Maracaybo,  St.  Martha,  Carthagena,  and  Chagres.  Here  he  heard  of 
gold  discoveries  in  California,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  San  Francisco  via  Panama. 
A  hasty  survey  of  the  outlook  satisfied  him  that  "merchandising"  rather 
than  digging  for  gold  afforded  better  chances  for  success,  and  on  this  foundation 
determined  to  build  his  fortune.  In  1850  he  went  to  Oregon,  and  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year  formed  a  copartnership  with  W.  S.  Ladd,  Esq.,  for  general  mercan- 
tile pursuits,  which  continued  until  1859.  That  his  operations  were  diversified 
and  on  a  large  scale,  the  public  prints  of  that  era  are  ample  evidence.  He  was 
interested  in  establishing  a  line  of  vessels  to  run  between  Oregon  and  China,  one 
(if  which,  the  "  C  E.  Tilton,'  had  made  the  quickest  passage  from  New  York  to 
Oregon  on  record  to  the  present  time.  She  was  subse(juently  sold  to  the  Jajta- 
nese  government  and  by  them  converted  into  a  man  of  war,  and  was  finally  sunk 
in  an  encounter  with  the  V.  S.  ship  '' Powhattan."  In  1859  the  banking-house 
of  Ladd  &  Tilton,  Portland,  was  organized,  so  favorably  known  and  generally 
advertised  during  the  settlement  of  the  presidential  vote  of  that  state  in  187t>. 
He  remained  a  partner  in  this  institution  twenty-one  years,  retiring  in  1880. 

In  all  this  period  ]Mr.  Tilton  was  interested  in  many  other  enterprises  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  frontier.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  navigation  of  the 
Columbia  and  Willamette  rivers.  He  was  one  of  five  who  controlled  what 
has  developed  into  the  Oregon  Railway  k  Navigation  Company,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  S24,000,OOO.  He  had  an  interest  in  the  banking  firm  of  Ladd  <.*c  Bush, 
Salem,  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Portland,  and  First  National  Bank  ol 
Walla  Walla,  W.  T.  At  the  same  time  he  was  largely  engaged  in  trans- 
portation across  the  plains.  He  fully  understood  the  requirements  for  merchan- 
dise in  Utah,  Montana,  Wyoming,  and  Colorado.  He  furnished  and  dispatched 
large  trains  from  San  Bernardino,  Cal.,  to  TTtah,  and  from  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 
to  Colorado,  and  from  there  to  Montana,  giving  his  personal  attention  to  them 


..i::^^  ^r^^^^^i^^iZTT" 


y^ 


CHARLES    ELLIOTT    TILTON.  Ill 

all.  This  was  no  pastime  twenty  years  ago.  A  country  largely  held  by  hostile 
Indians  had  to  be  traversed,  and  few  trains  reached  their  destination  unmolested. 
l)esperate  encounters  frecjuently  occurred,  resulting  in  more  or  less  loss  to  life 
and  property,  and  once  ending  in  the  capture  of  an  entire  train  by  the  "  Red 
Devils.'  Other  obstacles  had  to  be  met,  incident  to  such  undertakings,  like 
storms,  swollen  rivers,  and  break-downs,  which  would  have  seemed  in.'^uperable  to 
any  one  of  less  force  of  character.  Kealizing  what  the  great  West  might  be,  he 
purchased  land  in  all  the  territories,  which  investments  have  proved  advantageous. 
He  engaged  in  many  other  transactions  which  his  keen  perceptions  led  him  to 
believe  would  be  remunerative,  so  that,  in  fact,  there  were  but  few  enterprises  of 
importance  connected  with  the  growth  and  development  of  the  Pacific  slope, 
whether  pertaining  to  its  finance,  internal  improvements,  or  its  foreign  and  do- 
mestic commerce,  in  which  the  cool  and  sagacious  subject  of  this  sketch  was  not 
a  participator. 

To  organize  and  direct  successfully  such  varied  and  extended  operations,  out- 
lined here  only  in  part,  required  a  mind  strong  in  perception  and  purpose.  A  union 
of  these  qualities,  with  that  adventurous  spirit  which  led  the  youth  of  eighteen 
to  the  sources  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  pampas  of  the  Amazon  in  pursuit  of 
wealth,  constituted  a  mental  alliance  which  could  well  measure  the  possibilities  of 
a  new  country  and  avail  himself  of  their  fulfillment. 

In  all  this  time  Mr.  Tilton  enjoyed  excellent  health  and  immunity  from 
serious  accident.  After  living  amidst  the  steaming  malaria  of  tropical  lagoons, 
sleeping  by  the  side  of  his  mustang  on  the  plains,  blockaded  by  the  storms  of  the 
Sierras,  assailed  by  the  hostile  Ajiaches,  he  returns  to  his  native  hills  unscathed, 
with  a  sound  constitution  and  the  early  purpose  of  his  will  fully  accomplished. 

Mr.  Tilton's  munificence  has  manifested  itself  most  liberally  to  his  townsmen 
within  two  years.  In  that  time  he  has  erected  and  conveyed  to  them  a  town  hall 
finished  in  an  elegant  and  substantial  manner.  It  contains  a  market  and  town 
office,  a  store  and  post-office,  all  commodiously  arranged,  no  expense  being  spared 
which  would  add  to  convenience.  They  return  to  the  treasury  a  handsome  rental. 
The  hall  proper  is  easily  approached,  is  finished  in  hard  wood,  as  is  all  the  interior 
of  the  building.  It  is  artistically  frescoed  in  water-colors  and  gilt,  lighted  with 
gas,  has  a  stage  fitted  with  drop-curtains,  changes  of  scenery,  a  beautiful  pro- 
scenium, proper  furniture,  a  Steinway  piano,  all  after  the  most  approved  styles. 
The  building,  with  its  appointments,  is  the  admiration  of  visitors  and  the  pride 
of  towns-people.  He  has  placed  an  iron  bridge,  the  present  season,  from  Main 
street  to  Island  Park,  costing  over  eighteen  hundred  dollars.  The  public  are 
allowed  at  all  times  to  use  and  occupy  this  delightful  resort.  Its  airy  summer- 
house,  built  after  an  European  model,  surrounded  by  works  of  art,  is  unmatched 
in  loveliness.  For  remodeling  one  of  the  village  churches  he  contributed  more 
than  three  thousand  dollars ;  and  donated  five  hundred  towards  an  iron  bridge 
between  Tilton  and  Northfield,  which  act  results  in  two  by  the  towns  named. 
He  expended  a  large  sum  in  the  purchase  of  land  and  improving  it  for  a 
public  park  near  by  the  village,  and,  including  the  gift  of  the  fine  town  hall, 
January  4,  1881,  must  have  appropriated  forty  thousand  dollars  for  the  pleasure 
and  benefit  of  his  townsmen.  During  this  period  he  has  paid  thousands  of  dol- 
lars for  improvements  on  his  own  premises,  giving,  employment  to  a  large  force  of 
laborers  and  mechanics. 

Mr.  Tilton's  elegant  and  sjjacious  residence  is  situated  on  an  eminence  com- 
numding  a  magnificent  prospect,  and  overlooks  the  village  that  bears  his  name. 
When  built,  a  few  years  since,  it  was  deemed  one  of  the  best  in  central  New 
Hampshire.  In  the  last  two  years  it  has  been  materially  improved,  while  large 
additions  have  been  constructed,  consisting  of  an  extensive  conservatory  and  aviary 


112  CHAELES    ELLIOTT    TILTON. 

on  the  one  side  of  the  main  building,  and  a  spacious  drawing-room  on  the  other ; 
it  is  unequaled  in  its  appointments,  perhaps,  in  New  England.  It  is  twenty- 
eight  feet  by  thirty-eight  feet  in  area,  and  twenty-two  feet  in  height.  Seven 
thousand  five  hundred  feet  of  mahogany  were  used  to  complete  it.  To  the  height 
of  four  feet  the  most  elaborate  work  in  wainscoting  is  produced,  while  pilasters 
in  the  same  wood,  ornate  in  their  design,  extend  from  the  floor  on  either  side  and 
meet  in  the  ceiling  above.  This  arrangement  in  finish  running  at  right  angles 
leaves  the  walls  and  surfiice  overhead  checked  into  panels,  either  square  or  oblong, 
each  of  which  is  filled  with  an  individual  conception  of  the  artist,  but  collectively 
form  a  general  design.  An  exquisitely  designed  gablet  holds  the  porcelain  tiled 
fire  front,  its  three  sides  partly  filled  with  French  plate  mirrors,  and  a  Swiss 
styled  hooding  covers  the  apex  which  contains  the  clock.  Carpets  and  rugs, 
drapery  and  furniture,  mirrors  and  chandeliei-s,  were  manufactured  for  the  room. 
We  know  the  owner  is  averse  to  anything  that  attracts  attention  to  himself. 
The  public  on  proper  occasions  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  these  premises ; 
and  what  we  have  here  recited  has  been  gathered  from  sources  that  have  been 
open  to  all. 

Mr.  Tilton  is  cordial  and  pleasant  in  his  intercourse  with  his  neighbors  and 
acquaintances,  and  in  feelings  and  tastes  one  of  the  people.  The  steel  portrait  is 
an  excellent  one.     He  is  in  the  prime  of  manhood  and  intellect. 

Through  life,  so  far,  he  seems  to  have  been  conscious  that  his  capacity  was 
for  business  and  not  politics.  He  has  never  sought  or  held  public  ofiice,  and  says 
he  never  will.  The  frequent  mention  of  his  name  in  political  circles  and  some- 
times in  the  press,  in  such  connection,  is  not  inspired  by  him. 

He  comes  back  to  a  common  welcome  after  thirty  years  of  incessant  labor, 
from  amidst  surroundings,  which,  if  detailed,  would  seem  stranger  than  fiction. 

Mr.  Tilton  was  married  December  2i),  and  sailed  in  the  "  Gallia  ''  from  New 
York  for  Liverpool,  January  4,  1882.  We  understand  it  is  the  intention  of  the 
happy  pair,  if  Providence  permits,  to  stay  abroad  as  long  as  pleasure  or  profit  can 
be  derived  from  their  trip. 


COL.  CHARLES  E.  BALCH, 


Charles  Edward  Balch  was  born  in  Francestuwn  in  1834,  and  is  the 
son  of  Mason  and  Hannah  Balch,  his  mother  being  a  dauuhter  of  Joshua  Holt, 
of  Greenfield.  His  boyhood  was  spent  upon  a  farm,  and  his  education  was 
obtained  in  the  comnKjn  schools  and  Francestown  Academy.  When  eighteen 
years  of  age  he  began  life  for  himself  as  a  book-keeper  in  the  dry -goods  store  of 
Barton  &  Co.,  in  Manchester,  and  two  years  later  had  so  established  himself  in  the 
confidence  of  tlie  managers  of  the  jManchester  Savings  Bank  that  he  was  called 
to  a  clerkship  in  that  institution.  In  this  position  his  industry,  courtesy,  and 
excellent  judgment  won  good  opinions  from  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact, 
and  when  the  Manchester  National  Bank  was  organized,  in  1865,  he  was  chosen 
its  cashier,  and  has  filled  this  responsible  position  ever  since.  He  has  also  been 
a  trustee  of  the  Manchester  Savings  Bank  since  1862,  is  a  member  of  its  invest- 
ing committee,  treasurer  of  the  Manchester  Gas-liight  Company,  a  director  and 
member  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  New  Hampshire  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pan}^  and  a  trustee  of  many  large  estates.  In  all  these  positions,  Mr.  Balch  has 
proved  himself  a  sagacious,  earelul,  and  safe  financier.  The  banks  to  wlvich  he 
has  given  the  most  of  his  time  and  energies  reflect  in  their  strength  and  uniform 
success  his  honesty,  reliability,  and  prudence ;  and  those  whose  funds  have  been 
intrusted  to  his  management  have  always  found  their  confidence  justified  by  steady 
and  satisfactory  returns. 

Mr.  Balch  is,  moreover,  a  man  whose  private  character  is  above  suspicion,  a 
citizen  whose  public  duties  are  never  left  to  others,  a  friend  whose  fealty  is  never 
doubted,  and  an  acquaintance  whose  courtesy,  candor,  and  aftability  command 
universal  respect  and  good  will.  He  has  been  too  modest  to  ask,  and  too  busy 
to  accept,  political  honors  :  but  his  influence  has  been  jiotent  in  advancing  the 
party  to  which  he  belongs,  and  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  city  in  which  he 
resides.  In  aft'airs  of  state  and  city,  as  in  business  matters,  he  makes  little  noise ; 
but  his  work  tells,  and  his  convictions  of  duty  bring  substantial  results.  He  was 
commissioned  a  colonel  of  the  state  militia  in  1879,  and  served  on  Gov.  Head's 
stafi"  for  two  years. 

In  July,  1867,  Mr.  Balch  married  Miss  Emeline  K.  Brooks,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Nahum  Brooks,  then  of  Bath,  Me.,  but  now  of  Manchester,  who  presides 
over  and  dispenses  the  hospitalities  of  his  pleasant  home. 


HON.  JOHN  CARROLL  MOULTON 


BY    COL.    THOMAS    J.    WHIPPLE. 


The  ancestors  of  Hon.  John  C.  Motlton  were  among  the  fifty-six  inhabi 
tants  from  the  county  of  Norfolk,  England,  who  first  settled  in  the  town  ot 
Hampton,  then  Winnicumet,  in  the  year  l(j38.  The  names  of  John  Molton 
and  Thomas  Molton  appear  in  a  partial  list  of  these  original  settlers,  which  may 
be  found  in  "  Belknap's  Histoiy  of  New  Hampshire."  Vol.  I.  p.  37. 

General  Jonathan  Moulton  was  a  descendant  of  this  family,  and  the  great- 
grandfather of  John  C.  Moulton.  He  was  born  in  Hampton,  N.  H.,  June  30, 
172G,  and  died  at  Hampton,  in  the  year  1788,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  He  was 
a  large  proprietor  in  lands,  and  several  flourishing  towns  in  the  interior  of  this 
state  owe  their  early  settlement  to  his  exertions  and  influence.  This  fact  is  men- 
tioned in  •'  Farmer  &  Moore's  Gazetteer,"  published  in  1823.  When  he  was 
thirty-seven  years  old,  the  town  of  Moultonborough  was  granted  to  him  and 
sixty-one  others,  by  the  Masonian  proprietors,  November  17,  17G3.  He  was 
already  noted  for  the  distinguished  service  which  he  had  rendered  in  the  Indian 
wars,  which  ended  with  the  Ossipee  tribe,  along  the  northerly  borders  of  Moul- 
tonborough, in  1763.  Many  of  his  adventures  during  this  bloody  period  have 
been  preserved  and  transmitted  to  the  present  time  ;  enough,  indeed,  to  fill  a  large 
space  in  this  brief  sketch.  It  may  be  well  to  preserve  one  of  these  incidents  in 
this  record :  — 

An  octogenarian  in  the  vicinity  of  Moultonborough  relates  that,  during  the 
Indian  wars,  Colonel,  afterward  Greneral,  Jonathan  Moulton  went  out  with  a 
scouting  party  from  Dover.  After  numerous  adventures,  they  met  with  and 
attacked  a  party  of  six  Indians,  near  a  place  now  known  as  Clark's  Landing,  on 
tlie  shore  of  Lake  Winnipesaukee,  all  of  whom  fell  in  the  skirmish  which 
ensued,  with  one  exception.  The  colonel  had  a  large  dog  with  him,  which,  after 
the  afi"ray  was  over,  he  placed  upon  the  track  of  the  escaped  Indian.  The  dog 
ran  on  the  shore  a  short  distance,  and  then  struck  oft"  on  to  the  ice.  The  party 
followed,  and  as  they  approached  the  entrance  of  what  is  now  Green  bay  they 
saw  in  the  distance  that  the  dog  had  the  Indian  down  upon  the  ice ;  and  when 
they  got  to  the  spot  the  Indian  was  dead, —  killed  by  the  dog. 

The  active  services  of  the  general  in  these  border  wars  had  made  him,  at  an 
early  age,  well  and  favorably  known  to  the  leading  men  of  that  day.  His  numer- 
ous raids  and  scouts,  in  the  region  occupied  by  the  Ossipee  tribes,  had  made  him 
well  acquainted  with  the  then  wilderness,  and  with  the  adjacent  country  upon  the 
western  shores  of  the  lake,  and  no  doubt  secured  to  him  the  land  grant  which  he 
ol)tained,  in  common  with  many  of  his  companions  in  arms.  He  was  rightly 
pla<;ed  at  the  head  of  the  grantees,  by  the  Masonian  proprietors,  and  the  town  of 
Moultonborough,  which  was  named  after  him,  perpetuates  the  memory  of  his 
rugged  virtues  and  of  his  enterprising  character.  His  descendants  have  been 
inhabitants  of  Moultonborough  and  of  Center  Harbor  to  the  present  time. 
After  obtaining  this  grant,  the  general  devoted  much  of  the  remainder  of  his  life 


HON.  JOHN  CAKROLL  MOULTON.  115 

in  promoting  the  settlement  and  the  development  of  this  new  territory.  Among 
other  tilings  in  this  direction,  he  obtained  from  Gov.  Wentworth  the  grant  of 
land  now  known  as  the  town  of  New  Hampton,  which  was  formerly  a  part  of 
Moultoiiborough  gore,  and  then  called  •'Moiiltonborough  Addition.  "  The  follow- 
ing amusing  account  of  the  way  in  which  (ren.  Moultdn  secured  this  last  grant 
appears  in  "  Fogg's  Gazetteer,  "  and  is  to  be  found  in  other  histories  of  those 
early  times:  — 

"  In  17GH,  Gen.  Jonathan  Moulton,  of  Hampton,  having  an  ox  weighing  one 
thousand  four  hundred  pounds,  fattened  for  the  purpose,  hoisted  a  flag  upon  his 
horns,  and  drove  him  to  Portsmouth  as  a  present  to  Gov.  Wentworth.  The  gen- 
eral refused  any  compensation  for  the  ox,  but  said  he  would  like  a  charter  of  a 
small  gore  of  land  he  had  discovered  adjoining  the  town  of  Moultonborough,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  ))rincipal  proi)rietors.  The  governor  granted  this  simple 
request  of  General  Moulton,  and  he  called  it  New  Hampton,  in  honor  of  his 
native  town.  This  small  gore  of  land  contained  nineteen  thousand  four  hundred 
and  twenty-two  acrt's,  a  part  of  which  now  constitutes  ('Cnter  Harbor." 

Thus  it  appears  that  (reneral  Moulton,  by  his  energy  and  enterprise,  largely 
contributed  to  the  formation  of  three  towns, —  one  named  New  Hampton,  by 
him ;  another  named  Moultonborough,  for  him  :  and  the  third,  Center  Harbor, 
was  carved  from  a  part  of  his  grant  called  "  Moultonborough  Addition.'" 

The  following  is  the  genealogical  order:  — 

1.  Gen.  Jonathan  Moulton,  born  in  Hampton,  N.  H.,  June  30,  172G.  Jan. 
7,  17-49,  he  married  Abigail  Smith.     He  died  in  1788. 

2.  Benuing  Moulton,  son  of  Jonathan  Moulton  and  Abigail  (Smith)  Moul- 
ton, born  May  21,  1761.  He  married  Sally  Lovett,  Nov.  7,  1782.  He  settled 
in  Center  Harbor  in  178;>,  and  there  died  Dec.  23,  1884. 

;5.  Jonathan  Smith  Moulton,  son  of  Benning  Moulton  and  Sally  (Lovett) 
Moulton,  born  at  Center  Harbor,  Dec.  14,  1785.  He  married  Deborah  Neal. 
He  died  Nov.  15,  1855. 

4.  John  Carroll  Moultox,  son  of  Jonathan  Smith  Moulton  and  Debo- 
rah (Neal)  Moulton,  born  in  Center  Harbor.  Dec.  24,  1810.  In  addition  to  the 
ordinary  opportunities  of  the  district  school,  in  his  native  town,  he  attended 
Holmes  Academy  at  Plymouth,  N.  II.,  where  for  several  terms  he  pursued  his 
studies  under  the  instruction  of  the  late  Samuel  Burns,  who  ranked  among  the 
foremost  teachers  of  his  time.  To  perfect  himself  in  mathematical  studies,  for 
which  he  showed  an  early  and  natural  aptitude,  he  placed  himself  under  the  tui- 
tion of  Master  Dudley  Leavitt,  the  noted  '■  almanac-maker,  who,  for  many 
years,  opened  an  annual  term  of  high  school  in  Meredith,  where  he  taught  all  the 
advanced  branches  of  mathematics  to  pupils,  who  in  that  day  flocked  from  every 
}iart  of  the  country  to  place  themselves  at  the  feet  of  this  great  mathematical 
Gamaliel.  These  studies  he  ardently  pursued  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  ordi- 
nary academical  course,  and  they  seem  to  have  impressed  upon  him  a  permanent 
proficiency  often  called  for  and  manifested  in  the  various  large  business  transac- 
tions with  which  he  has  been  connected  for  so  many  years.  During  the  intervals 
of  schools  he  assisted  his  father — who  was  in  trade  and  a  large  farmer — as  clerk 
and  general  assistant  in  his  extensive  business.  In  1 881 ,  at  about  the  age  of 
twenty,  he  opened  a  store  and  commenced  trade  at  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  where  he 
remained  about  a  year,  when  he  returned,  and  resumed  the  same  business  at 
(^enter  Harbor. 


116  HON.  JOHN"  CARROLT^  MOULTOK. 

July  15,  1833,  lie  married  Nellie  B.  Senter.  He  then  opened  a  hotel  in  what 
has  since  grown  to  be  one  of  the  famous  boarding-houses  at  Center  Harbor,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  his  brilliant  and  accomplished  wife,  united  the  duties  of  landlord 
and  merchant,  which  employments  he  continued  thei'e  for  several  years.  In 
1836,  Lake  Village,  N.  H.,  began  to  attract  attention  as  a  place  of  large  prospect- 
ive business,  and  Mr.  Moulton  left  Center  Harbor,  and  opened  a  store  at  that 
place.  He  also  engaged  in  manufacturing,  and  continued  in  these  employments 
for  several  years. 

In  1841  he  removed  to  Laconia,  then  known  the  world  over  as  Meredith 
Bridge,  and  took  charge  of  the  Belknap  Hotel.  This  being  the  only  stage  house 
of  that  lively  place,  it  was  usually  inundated  with  the  stream  of  public  travel 
peculiar  to  those  times.  He  continued  this  business  about  two  years,  when  he 
opened  a  bookstore  and  an  apothecary-shop  in  a  building  which  stood  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  post-office  and  the  national  bank.  He  was  soon  after 
appointed  postmaster, —  in  the  latter  part  of  Tyler's  administration;  was  re- 
appointed by  President  Polk,  through  whose  term  he  held  the  office,  which  he 
continued  to  do  a  short  time  during  the  term  of  President  Taylor,  when,  being  a 
life-long  Democrat,  he  was  removed.  He  was  re-appointed  by  President  Pierce, 
and  also  by  President  Buchanan,  during  whose  terms  he  held  the  office,  which  he 
continued  to  do  a  short  time  under  President  Lincoln,  when  he  was  siiperseded 
by  the  appointment  of  a  Republican.  Thus  he  held  the  office  of  postmaster  during 
part  of  the  terms  of  three  Republican,  and  the  full  terms  of  three  Democratic, 
administrations,  making  his  term  of  office  about  sixteen  years  in  all.  The  duties 
of  his  long  term  of  service  were  performed  in  a  manner  universally  acceptable 
and  satisfactory  to  the  public. 

In  1848  the  Boston,  Concord,  &  Montreal  Railroad  was  built  and  completed 
from  Concord  to  Plymouth.  In  anticipation  of  this  event  the  firm  of  Charles 
Ranlet  &  Co.  built  large  and  extensive  car-works  at  Laconia,  which  they  designed 
particularly  for  the  construction  of  freight-cars.  The  firm  commenced  and  car- 
ried on  the  business  until  the  decease  of  the  senior  partner,  in  1860,  when  the 
works  were  suspended.  In  1861,  Mr.  Moulton  became  a  partner,  and  by  his 
great  energy  and  business  capacity  has  developed  a  large  business,  which  employs 
some  two  hundred  men,  most  of  whom  are  skilled  workmen.  The  monthly  pay- 
roll is  about  eight  thousand  dollars.  The  works  have  been  repeatedly  enlarged, 
and  several  extensive  buildings  erected,  to  accommodate  the  increase  of  business. 
For  several  years,  passenger-cars  of  the  finest  style  and  finish,  as  well  as  freight- 
cars,  have  been  built  at  their  works,  and  their  annual  gross  earnings  are  to  be 
reckoned  at  several  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  Febrxiary,  1881,  these  car- 
shops,  with  most  of  their  machinery  and  contents,  were  burned  to  the  ground, 
only  some  of  the  out-buildings  being  saved.  Before  the  ruins  were  done  smoking, 
lumber  began  to  be  hauled  upon  the  ground,  and  in  thirty  days  from  the  fire 
cars  were  being  built  in  new  shops  which  had  been  erected  on  the  old  founda- 
tions. Mr.  Moulton  was  then  over  seventy  years  of  age,  and  was  well  able  to 
retire  from  businesi:*,  with  an  ample  competence,  to  the  quiet  repose  which  most 
men  desire  as  the  closing  blessing  of  an  active  and  arduous  life. 

In  1871  and  1872  he  was  chosen  senator  from  district  number  six,  and  per- 
formed his  official  duties  with  his  accustomed  promptness  and  fidelity,  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  He  was  also  elected  councilor  for  district  number 
two  in  1874.  In  1876  he  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  Democratic  national  con- 
vention held  at  St.  Louis,  which  nominated  Samuel  J.  Tilden  for  the  presidency, 
and  in  the  ensuing  presidential  campaign  was  one  of  the  candidates  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  for  elector. 


HON.  JOHN  CARROLL  MOULTON.  117 

lu  1865,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  manufacturing,  commercial,  and  other  busi- 
ness interests  at  Laconia  and  Lake  \'iUage  suggested  to  him  the  great  need  of 
added  tinaucial  facilities.  To  meet  tliese  deman<ls,  it  was  necessary  to  procure  a 
charter  from  the  government  to  establish  a  national  bank  at  Laconia.  Almost 
insurmountaljle  obstacles  to  success  in  this  entcrjirise  were  encountered,  and 
finally  overcome.  The  charter  was  procured,  and  the  bank  established,  largely  by 
the  active  and  persistent  labor  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  I'pon  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Laconia  National  Bank,  he  was  chosen  its  first  president,  and  has 
continuously  and  acceptably  held  the  position  to  the  present  time.  It  may  well 
be  said,  that  the  impartiality  with  which  the  accommodations  of  this  bank  have 
been  extended  to  promote  all  hopeful  enterprises  has  done  uuich  to  advance  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  place. 

For  several  years,  Mr.  Moulton  was  a  stockholder  in  the  Gilford  Hosiery 
Corporation  at  Laconia.  In  1868  he  became  sole  owner  of  the  entire  stock  and 
property.  He  has  steadily  continued  its  successful  operation,  with  an  annurfl 
product  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  until  now.  The  factory 
employs  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  hands,  mostly  females,  at  the  mill,  and  gives 
employment  to.  many  households  in  the  surrounding  country.  Mr.  Moulton  and 
Benjamin  K.  Thurston  are  joint  owners  of  the  extensive  fiouring  and  grain  mill 
of  Laconia.  He  is  also  a  large  owner  of  the  stock  in  the  Laconia  Gas-light  Com- 
pany, and  has  done  much  to  place  this  important  })ioneer  enterprise  upon  the  solid 
basis  it  now  holds  among  the  public  improvements  of  this  growing  town. 

Mr.  Moulton  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He 
is  one  of  the  charter  members  of  Winnipisseogee  Lodge  No.  7,  which  was 
established  at  Laconia  in  1842,  and  is  now  one  of  the  Uniformed  Patriarchs  of 
the  order. 

His  domestic  and  family  relations  are  as  follows :  — 

July  15,  1833,  he  married  Nellie  B.  Senter,  of  Center  Harbor,  who  was  the 
daughter  of  Samuel  M.  Senter.  Her  ancestor.  Col.  Joseph  Senter,  and  Eben- 
ezer  Chamberlain  were  the  first  settlers  in  that  town  in  1765  and  1767.  She 
died  Nov.  18,  1860,  at  Laconia.  Five  children  were  born  to  them,  of  whom 
three  survive. 

Edwin  Carroll  Moulton  was  born  May  25,  1834,  and  died  Nov.  13,  1867. 
He  married  Augusta  Ranlet,  of  Laconia,  daughter  of  Charles  Ranlet  ;  and  their 
only  child,  Nelly  Augusta  Moulton,  still  survives.  He  was  an  active  business 
man,  full  of  promise,  and  many  friends  still  cherish  his  memory. 

Samuel  Moore  Senter  Moulton  was  born  Aug.  1,  1837,  and  resides  at  Laco- 
nia. May  2,  1861,  he  enlisted,  and  served  in  the  New  Hampshire  volunteers. 
July  26,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  and  served 
three  years  during  the  rebellion,  with  the  mounted  troops.  Since  the  war  he  is 
employed  as  book-keeper,  clerk,  and  paymaster  in  the  car  factories  above  referred 
to.  He  was  one  of  the  selectmen  of  Laconia  for  the  years  1868  and  1869  ;  and 
was  representative  of  the  town  to  the  legislature  for  the  years  1876  and  1877. 
He  married  3Iartha  B.  Thurston,  daughter  of  Benjamin  E.  Thurston,  who  is  well 
known.  He  served  as  representative  to  the  legislature  from  the  town  of  Moul- 
tonborough  in  Carroll  county,  for  the  years  1867  and  1868,  after  which  he 
removed  to,  and  now  resides  in,  Laconia,  which  town  he  represented  in  the  legis- 
lature in  1881.  He  was  also  high  sherifl"  of  Belknap  county  in  the  years  1874 
and   1875. 

William  Hale  Moulton  was  born  July  20,  1844,  died  :March  10,  1840. 

Horatio  Francis  Moulton  was  born  Jan.  24,  1848.  During  the  war  he  was 
three  years  in  the  U^nited  States  navy.  He  was  one  of  the  naval  cadets,  and 
intended  to  pass  his  life  in  the  United  States  service,  but  was  prevented  by  pulmo- 


118  HON.  JOHN  CARROLL  MOULTON. 

nary  disease.  He  married  Ella  8.  Melclier,  of  Kpringfield,  Mass.,  daughter  of 
William  Melcher.  and  has  a  family  of  three  young  children.  He  is  superintend- 
ent of  the  Gilford  Hosiery  Company,  and  has  been  so  for  many  years. 

Ida  Lettice  Moulton,  was  born  June  4,  1850.  She  married  Josliua  B.  Holden, 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  and  they  have  a  young  family  of  four  children. 

Mr.  Moulton  married  his  second  wife,  Sarah  A.  McDougal,  Aug.  18,  1866. 
Her  many  virtues  and  useful  charities  have  endeared  her  to  a  large  circle  of 
warm  friends. 

The  lives  of  men  who  are  absorbed  in  thtf  exacting  duties  of  many  diversified 
and  burdensome  jtursuits  are  not  crowded  with  incidents  which  interest  remote 
posterity ;  but  the  successful  and  many-sided  enterprises  of  such  men  exert  a 
wide  and  beneficial  influence  in  their  day  and  generation.  Such  a  man  is  Mr. 
Moukon.  He  has  always  been  an  open-handed,  public-spirited  citizen.  To  him, 
and  to  two  or  three  others,  we  owe  the  building  of  the  finest  church  in  Laconia 
and  the  support  of  a  liberal  ministry.  Long  after  he  has  passed  away,  the  town 
of  his  adoption  will  continue  to  exhibit  many  evidences  of  his  liberal  contribu- 
tions to  whatever  tended  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  town,  the  prosperity  of  its 
business,  or  the  public  welfare. 


-x- 


IIOX.  AL\'AH  W.  SILLUWAY. 


BY    H.    II.    METCALF. 


From  an  inchisfrial.  as  well  as  a  political  standpoint,  the  town  of  Franklin 
lia.«  long-  occupied  a  prominent  position  in  the  state.  Hi<ihly  favored  bv  nature 
with  the  facilities  most  conducive  to  the  development  of  manufacturing  industry, 
there  has  grown  up  within  its  limits,  or  been  attracted  thereto  from  other  locali- 
ties, a  large  class  of  citizens  possessing  the  enterprise,  energy,  and  sagacity  re<|ui- 
site  to  the  most  advantageous  use  of  those  facilities.  There  are,  indeed,  few 
among  our  New  Fngland  towns  of  corresponding  size,  which  include  among  their 
inhabitants  a  larger  number  of  active  and  successful  business  men,  or  whose 
progress  has  been  signalized  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  by  a  more 
substantial  industrial  development. 

Alvah  W.  Si'LLOWAV  is  one  of  the  best-known,  most  practical,  energetic, 
and  i)ublic-spirited  among  the  enterprising  business  men  of  this  prosperous  and 
progressive  town.  While  the  state  of  Massachusetts  has  drawn  from  our  midst 
a  large  proportion  of  the  men  whose  labors  have  brought  the  prosperity  and 
distinction  which  that  proud  old  commonwealth  enjoys,  she  has  given  Xew 
Hampshire  in  return  some  of  her  own  sons,  whose  efforts  have  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  advance  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  .><tate  of  their  adoption. 
Among  these  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Born  in  Framingham,  3Iass.,  Dec. 
25, 1838.  Mr.  Sulloway  is  now  in  his  forty-fourth  year.  He  is  the  only  son  and 
eldest  child  of  Israel  W.  and  Adeline  (Richardson)  Sulloway,  to  whom  three 
daughters  were  also  born,  two  of  whom  are  living,  one  unmarried,  and  the  other 
the  wife  of  Herbert  Bailey,  Es((.,  a  prominent  manufacturer  of  the  town  of 
Claremont.  Israel  W.  Sulloway  is  a  native  of  Boston,  and  sprang  from  revolu- 
tionary ancestry  on  both  the  paternal  and  the  maternal  side,  his  mother  being  a 
Woodbury  of  Salem,  daughter  of  (^apt.  Israel  Woodbury,  who  served  in  the 
patriot  army  throughout  the  war  for  independence.  He  engaged  in  manufactur- 
ing service  in  youth,  and  was  for  some  time  an  overseer  in  the  Saxonville  Avoolen 
mill.  When  his  son  Alvah  was  about  ten  years  of  age,  he  removed  to  the  town 
of  Knfield  in  this  state,  where  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  yarn  and 
hosiery  Here  he  introduced  the  process  of  manufacturing  the  celebrated  Shaker 
socks  by  machinery,  being  the  first  manufacturer  to  engage  in  the  enterprise, 
where  he  established  a  prosperous  business,  which  he  carried  on  about  sixteen 
years,  when  he  sold  out  to  his  son-in-law,  jMr.  Bailey,  and  retired  from  active 
life,  locating  at  Waltham,  Mass.,  where  he  still  resides.  In  his  fathers  mill  at 
Enfield,  Alvah  W.  Sulloway  gained  that  practical  knowledge  of  the  business  in 
which  he  has  since  been  engaged,  which  constituted  the  .sitre  foundation  of  the 
success  he  has  attained  therein.  He  secured  a  good  academical  education  at 
Canaan,  Barre,  Vt.,  and  the  Green  Mountain  iiiberal  Institute  at  South  Wood- 
stock ;  but  spent  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  between  the  age  of  ten  and 
twenty-one  years   in  active  labor   in   the   mill,  thoroughly  familiarizing  himself 


120  HON.    ALVAH    W.    SULLOWAY. 

with   the  various   })rocetsses  in  hosiery  manufacture,  and   the  general   conduct  of 
business  in  that  important  line  of  industry. 

Upon  attaining  his  majority,  with  that  ambitious  and  independent  spirit  which 
so  generally  characterizes  the  youth  of  New  England,  and  to  which  the  develop- 
ment and  prosperity  of  all  sections  of  our  country  are  so  largely  due,  Mr.  SuUo- 
way  determined  to  go  into  business  for  himself.  His  purpose  received  the  ready 
sanction  and  encouragement  of  his  father,  and  after  due  deliberation  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  AValter  Aiken  of  Franklin,  in  the  manufacture  of  hosiery.  The 
partnership  continued  for  about  four  years,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  mutual  con- 
sent, and  another  firm  was  organized,  which  put  in  operation  a  new  mill.  This 
firm  consisted  of  Mr.  SuUoway  and  Frank  H.  Daniell  of  Franklin,  who  carried 
on  business  together  until  18U9,  when  Mr.  Daniell  withdrew,  and  Mr.  Sulloway 
has  since  })eeh  sole  })roprietor.  The  mill  is  situated  upon  the  lower  power  of  the 
Winnipesaukee,  opposite  the  mills  of  the  Winnipiseogee  Paper  Company,  the 
power  being  used  in  common  by  the  two  establishments.  The  building  is  of 
brick,  three  stories  high,  with  basement,  contains  four  sets  of  woolen  machinery, 
with  about  seventy-five  knitting-machines,  and  furnishes  employment  for  about 
ninety  operatives,  besides  a  large  number  of  women  in  the  vicinity,  and  surround- 
ing towns,  whose  labor  is  re(|uired  in  finishing  the  work  which  the  machines  leave 
incomplete.  The  goods  manufactured  are  the  Shaker  socks,  or  half-hose,  of 
which  about  three  hundred  dozen  pairs  are  produced  daily,  giving  an  annual 
product  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  monthly  pay-roll 
averages  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  aside  from  the  amount  paid 
for  outside  labor. 

Mr.  Sulloway  is  a  business  man  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term,  and  as  such  he 
has  been  thus  far  eminently  successful.  But  while  devoting  his  energies  and 
ability  to  the  development  of  his  own  business  interests,  and  thereby  indirectly 
conferring  large  benefit  upon  the  community  in  which  he  moves,  he  has  never 
failed  to  contribute,  by  direct  personal  effort,  to  the  advancement  of  all  measures 
of  public  utility  and  material  progress;  and  to  his  labor  and  encouragement,  per- 
sonally and  pecuniarily,  as  much  as  to  any  other  among  its  many  enterprising  and 
public-spirited  citizens,  the  town  of  Franklin  is  indebted  for  the  advanced  posi- 
tion which  it  holds,  when  regarded  from  a  business,  social,  or  educational  stand- 
point. He  was  a  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  Franklin  National  Bank, 
which  went  into  operation  in  November,  1879,  and  has  been  president  of  the 
institution  from  the  start.  He  has  also  been  a  trustee  of  the  Franklin  Savings 
Bank  ever  since  its  establishment,  and  for  several  years  past  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  investment.  In  1880  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Northern  Railroad,  which  position  he  still  holds. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Sulloway  is  an  ardent  Democrat,  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic 
worker  in  the  party  cause;  and  his  labors  in  this  direction  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  bringing  his  party  into  ascendency  in  Franklin,  which  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  hardest-contested  political  battle  grounds  in  the  state, 
numbering,  as  it  does,  among  its  citizens  several  of  the  most  active  leaders  of  the 
two  great  parties.  In  1871 ,  although  the  town  was  then  decidedly  Republican,  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  from  Franklin,  and  was  re-elected 
the  following  year.  In  1874,  and  again  in  1875,  he  was  elected  to  the  same 
position.  In  the  legishUure,  as  everywhere  else,  he  proved  himself  a  thoroughly 
practical  man,  devoting  himself  actively  to  business,  and  leaving  speech-making 
to  those  inclined  to  talk  rather  than  work.  In  1871  he  served  on  the  committee 
on  elections;  in  1872,  ujxjn  railroads;  in  1874  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
manufactures,  where  his  close  acquaintance  with  manufacturing  interests  fitted 
him  for  most   efficient  service;  and  in  1875  was  again  a  member  of  the  elections 


HON.    ALVAH    W.    SLLLOWAY.  121 

committee.  Tn  1874,  wlien  tlie  Democratic  party  managers  set  to  work  system- 
atically to  win  a  victory  in  the  state,  Mr.  Sulloway  was  nominated  for  railroad 
commissioner  upon  the  ticket  headed  by  James  A.  Weston  for  governor.  Al- 
tliouiih  there  was  no  choice  by  the  peo))le  in  the  election  that  year,  the  Democracy 
won  a  substantial  victory,  in  that  they  secured  a  majority  in  the  legislature,  and 
the  election  of  their  candidates  for  governor  and  railroad  commissioner  followed 
at  the  hands  of  that  body.  To  this  triumph  of  his  party  in  the  state,  the  ener- 
getic labor  of  Mr.  Sulloway  in  the  general  conduct  of  the  campaign  contributed 
in  no  small  degree.  As  a  member  of  the  board  of  railroad  commissioners  for 
the  term  of  three  years,  the  last  year  as  chairman  of  the  board,  he  rendered  the 
state  efficient  service,  carrying  into  his  official  labors,  so  far  as  they  extended, 
the  same  practical  sagacity  and  judgment  exercised  in  his  own  private  business. 

In  January,  1877,  Mr.  Sulloway  was  nominated  by  the  Democracy  of  the 
second  district  as  their  candidate  for  congress,  against  Major  James  F.  Briggs  of 
Manchester,  the  Kepublican  nominee.  The  district  was  strongly  Kepublican. 
and  that  party  had  a  pojiular  candidate  in  the  field;  yet  Mr.  Sulloway,  with  no 
expectation  of  an  election,  made  a  vigorous  canvass,  and  ran  largely  ahead  of  his 
ticket.  He  was  also  the  candidate  of  his  party  in  the  district  at  the  next  elec- 
tion, and  again  in  1880,  making  lively  work  for  his  successful  opponent.  Major 
Briggs,  on  each  occasion.  He  has  .been  an  active  member  of  the  Democratic 
state  committee  for  more  than  ten  years  past,  and  for  the  greater  portion  of  the 
time  a  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  that  l)ody,  having  direct  charge  of 
the  campaign  work.  Ho  was  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  delegation  in 
the  national  convention  at  St.  Louis  in  1876,  which  nominated  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
for  the  presidency,  and  was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  great  New  York 
reformer,  not  only  in  convention,  but  also  in  the  subserpient  campaign  in  which 
he  was  actively  engaged  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  national  committee 
from  this  state.  In  1880  he  was  again  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  of 
bis  party,  at  Cincinnati,  where  (ien.  Hancock  was  nominated,  and  was  again 
elected  as  the  New  Hampshire  member  of  the  national  committee,  holding  the 
position  until  the  present  time. 

In  religion,  Mr.  Sulloway  is  an  adherent  of  the  liberal  taith.  He  was  reared 
a  Universalist,  and  is  now  an  active  member  of  the  Unitarian  society  in  Franklin, 
a  young  but  flourishing  organization  which  is  already  taking  active  measures  for 
the  erection  of  a  fine  church  edifice.  In  this  organization,  as  in  business  and 
politics,  Mr.  Sulloway  is  an  earnest  worker,  and  his  labor  and  encouragement 
have  contributed  materially  to  its  success.  He  is  a  trustee  of  this  society,  and, 
with  Governor  Bell,  a  vice-j)resident  of  the  New  Hampshire  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Unitarian  Educational 
Society,  under  whose  auspices  the  liberal  educational  institution  known  as  Proctor 
Academy,  at  Andover,  is  conducted. 

In  18GG,  Mr.  Sulloway  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Susan  K.  Daniell, 
an  accomplished  daughter  of  the  late  J.  F.  Daniell,  a  member  of  the  noted  paper- 
making  firm  of  Peal)ody  it  Daniell,  and  a  sister  of  the  Hon.  Warren  F.  and 
Frank  H.  Daniell.  They  have  two  children,  a  daughter  and  son,  —  the  eldest, 
Alice,  born  August  5,  1871,  and  Richard  Woodbury,  born  February  15,  1870. 
Their  home  is  a  fine  modern  residence,  erected  in  1877,  beautifully  located  in  a 
bend  of  the  Wimiipesaukee  river,  surrounded  by  handsome  grounds,  with  all  its 
a})]»ointments  conducive  to  the  comfort  of  the  faiiiily  and  the  host  of  friends 
who  share  their  generous  hospitality. 

Mr.  Sulloway  is  a  man  of  keen  ])erceptive  ]H)wers  and  ready  judgment,  so 
that  he  is  enabled  to  form  conclusions  up(Ui  all  practical  (piestions  presented  with 
a 


122  ho:n^.  alvah  w.  sflloway. 

more  than  ordinary  promptness  and  accui-acy.  His  opinion  in  all  matters  of 
public  interest  and  concern  in  the  community  in  which  he  resides  is  as  frequently 
sought  and  carries  as  great  weight  as  that  of  any  other  man,  to  say  the  least, 
and  the  same  also  may  be  said  of  his  advice  in  private  business  affairs.  He  is 
frank  and  outspoken  at  all  times,  and  never  hesitates  to  say  just  what  he  thinks 
when  called  upon  to  express  himself  in  any  direction.  He  has  many  warm 
friends,  and  enjoys  a  full  measure  of  popularity  in  social  as  well  as  in  public  and 
business  circles.  He  was  a  moving  spirit  in  the  organization  of  the  "  New  Hamp- 
shire Club,"  an  association  formed  by  New  Hampshire  men  doing  business  in 
Boston,  for  social  entertainment,  and  has  been  a  leading  member  of  the  same 
from  the  start.  Endowed  with  an  active  mind  and  heahhy  and  vigorous  bodily 
powers,  he  has  great  capacity  for  labor,  and  will,  unquestionably,  accomplish  even 
more  substantial  results  in  the  future  than  have  already  attended  his  efforts. 


m 


(Oi 


C/C^. 


-€'- 


CHESTER  PIKE. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  July  30,  1829,  in  the  town  of  Cornish, 
N.  H.  Mr.  Pike  may  be  said  to  be  possessed  of  prescriptive  rights  in  the  town- 
ship of  his  nativity  and  residence,  for.  planted  of  others,  it  was  by  blood  of  his 
blood  nurtured  into  permanence  and  prosperity. 

As  the  traits  of  the  parent  re-appear  in  the  qualities  of  the  child,  so  the  annals 
of  the  stock  from  whence  he  sprang  mingle  inseparably  with  the  chronicles  of 
this  many-hilled  town  by  the  Connecticut.  His  great-grandfather  and  great-grand- 
mother Chase  were  the  first  white  persons  to  settle  in  Cornish,  and  in  every  men- 
tion of  early  citizens  will  be  found  the  names  of  Pike,  Bryant,  and  Chase, 
whose  blood  blends  with  his.  The  friendf-hip  arising  from  nearness  of  resi- 
dence and  a  common  industry,  which  from  the  first  had  bound  these  families 
together,  was  soon  strengthened  and  made  pcnnancnt  by  the  stronger  tie  of 
intermarriage. 

In  1827,  Eben  Pike,  who  was  the  eldest  son  of  Kbcnezer  and  Mary  Marcy 
Pike,  of  Cornish,  was  united  in  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Capt.  Sylvanus 
Bryant  and  Sarah  Chase  Bryant,  of  the  same  place.  This  lady,  on  her  mother's 
side,  was  a  cousin  to  the  statesman,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  for  many  years  rep- 
resented Ohio  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
as  chief-justice  of  the  supreme  court,  wore  with  undiminished  honor  and  dignity 
the  mantle  of  the  great  Marshall. 

The  earliest  fruit  of  this  union  was  Chester  J'ike,  whose  life  we  are  now 
tracing.  A  later  son,  John  B.  Pike,  a  mail-route  agent  between  Boston  and 
St.  Albans,  an  eflficient  officer  and  courteous  gentleman,  is  now  a  resident  of  Leba- 
non, in  this  state.  The  oldest  son  still  resides  in  his  native  town  and  not  far 
from  th(!  spot  where  his  grandparents  first  settled,  in  the  broad,  picturesque  valley 
of  the  Connecticut,  hard  by  the  village  of  AVindsor,  and  under  the  shadows  of 
Ascutney.  To  one  so  located,  the  relics  of  the  past  are  objects  of  enduring  in- 
terest. The  very  hills  and  valleys  must  awaken  memories  of  the  olden  time  and 
kindle  associations  of  the  ancestral  home,  which  will  perpetuate  the  virtues  and 
the  aspirations  of  the  dead.  He  can  but  experience  .something  of  the  feeling  of 
the  descendants  of  the  old  families  of  England,  who  live  upon  their  ancient 
estates,  and  saunter  in  the  halls  of  old  castles,  or  under  the  shadows  of  gnarled 
trees  that  were  planted  centuries  ago  by  the  founders  of  their  line,  whose  ashes 
long  since  mingled  with,  and  became  a  part  of,  their  inalienable  homesteads.  The 
remembrance  of  the  brave  fathers  and  fair  mothers  who  lived  in  the  heroic  past 
is  their  richest  inheritance. 

In  his  earlier  years,  obedient  to  the  custom  of  the  fathers,  Mr.  Pike  attended 
the  district  school.  This  institution,  original  to  New  England,  discharges  a  func- 
tion in  the  training  of  the  young  which,  to  our  mind,  some  of  the  methods  and 
more  ambitious  inventions  of  modern  educators  fail  to  fulfill.  In  the  district 
school,  if  properly  taught,  are  .secured  habits  of  faithfulness  and  diligence,  and  a 
permanent  knowledge  of  elementary  branches,  which  are  of  daily  practical  u.'^e  in 


124  CHESTER   PIKE. 

the  life  of  the  people.  There,  too,  the  silly  conceits  and  factitious  distinctions  of 
society  are  broken  down,  as  children  see  that  success  is  achieved  by  brains,  not 
money  ;  by  industry,  not  social  standing.  In  this,  sometimes  rough  but  general 
intercourse  of  youth,  democratic  ways  and  independence  of  thought  are  ac((uired, 
and  the  seeds  of  a  true  manhood  and  womanhood  are  planted.  Our  system  of 
public  schools  is  in  harmony  with  the  organism  of  the  state,  and  in  them  our 
children  imbibe  a  spirit  of  obedience  to  wholesome,  legitimate  authority,  and  so 
become  conservative  of  public  discipline  and  order.  Men  learn  to  rule  by  learn- 
ing to  obey.     It  was  here  that  Mr.  Pike  laid  the  foundations  of  character. 

Later,  he  was  for  a  time  a  scholar  in  the  academy  at  Hartland,  Vt.  After 
a  season  of  study  there,  he  matriculated  in  that  long-time  famous  and  still  exist- 
ing center  of  pro-collegiate  education,  the  Kimball  Union  Academy  at  Meriden, 
N.  H.  The  principal,  at  that  time,  was  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Richards,  and  under  his 
guidance  several  terms  were  passed  in  the  ac(piisition  of  the  more  abstruse  learn- 
ing of  the  books.  But  the  months  drift  by,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  Mr.  Pike 
graduates  from  the  schools  and  passes  on  to  the  sterner  duties  of  manhood  and  of 
life.  The  winter  months  of  the  six  ensuing  years  are  filled  up  with  the  active 
work  of  the  pedagogue,  and  the  summer  seasons  in  constant,  laborious  wo)k  upon 
the  home  farm. 

During  this  period  he  was  ripening  the  lessons  of  his  pupilage  and  maturing 
plans  for  the  future.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  Mr.  Pike,  though  he  still  spent 
his  winters  for  some  years  in  teaching,  became  a  trader  in  cattle  and  a  merchant 
in  the  products  of  the  soil.  By  his  enterprise  in  this,  his  chosen  vocation,  he 
reached  the  position  of  a  foremost  man  of  a  notable  class  among  the  farmers  of 
New  England.  Familiar  from  youth  with  the  harvest  capabilities  of  the  rich 
levels  and  the  sun-warmed  hills  of  Sullivan  county,  and  gifted  with  a  quick  sense 
to  perceive  the  wants  of  modern  markets,  he  has,  by  unusual  energy  and  sagacity, 
fitted  means  to  ends,  and,  with  a  Midas-touch,  turned  his  agrarian  resources  into 
gold.  His  success  teaches  the  lesson  that  the  New  England  farm  has  no  less  poten- 
tial wealth  at  present  than  in  times  past,  if  skill  but  holds  the  handles  of  the  plow. 
Let  the  modern  farmer  cling  to  the  old  homestead  and  the  paternal  acres,  and 
take  counsel  with  the  progressive  science  of  soil-enrichment ;  let  him  employ  the 
same  skill  in  the  cultivation  of  his  farm  and  the  management  of  his  stock,  let 
him  use  the  same  enterprise  in  utilizing  markets,  and  the  same  economy  in  the 
disposition  of  his  funds,  which  are  necessary  in  other  employments,  —  and  his 
success  is  sure. 

We  would  here  quote  from  a  leading  paper  of  the  state  a  few  lines  pertinent 
to  ovir  narrative  :  — 

"  Capt.  Chester  Pike,  of  Cornish,  has  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest, 
farm  in  the  state.  It  contains  about  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  divided  into 
wood,  mowing,  tillage,  and  pasture  land ;  forty  acres  in  corn,  and  seventy  acres 
in  wheat,  rye,  oats,  barley,  and  potatoes.  Last  season  he  raised  six  thousand 
eight  hundred  baskets  of  corn.  He  has  one  hundred  and  thirty  head  of  cattle, 
three  hundred  sheep,  thirty-seven  horses,  and  forty  hogs,  and  raises  hay  enough 
to  keep  his  stock  through  the  season,  or  about  three  hundred  tons.  Capt.  Pike's 
farm  lies  in  the  town  of  Cornish,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Connecticut  river, 
immediately  opposite  the  farm  of  the  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  late  secretary  of 
state,  situated  in  Windsor,  Vt.,  which  is  of  about  equal  dimensions,  and,  in  iact, 
the  largest  farm  in  Vermont.  Mr.  Evarts  raises  about  the  same  amount  of  stock, 
hay,  and  produce  as  Ca})t.  Pike.  On  both  of  these  farms  may  be  found  all  the 
modern  appliances,  such  as  mowing  and  reaping  machines,  seeders  for  sowing 
grain,  two-horse  cultivators  for  hoeing  corn,  most  of  the  work  being  done  by 
machinery,  the  same  as  upon  the  largest  fai-ms  of  the  West." 


CHESTFK    PIKE.  125 

Anv  man  inii:ht  bo  prmid  of  such  :i  roconl.  Imt  it  is  mily  a  part  of  the  triitli. 
In  single  seasons.  >Ir.  Tike  often  buys,  for  resale,  from  seventy-five  to  one  liun- 
(Ired  and  twenty-five  tons  of  jntultry*  and  between  two  and  three  hundred  thous- 
and pounds  of  wool.  Besides  the  above,  he  has  for  many  years  purchased  an- 
nually, for  the  Boston  market,  in  the  interest  of  the  firm  of  liamson.  Dudley.  cS: 
Pike,  of  whieh  he  is  a  nu'uiber.  great  numbers  of  cattle  and  sheep.  During  the 
last  thirty  j^ears.  iNIr.  Pike  has  found  an  outlet  for  that  restless  energy  and  enter- 
prise, which  these  pursuits  and  the  occupation  of  fanning  and  stock -growing 
oannot  exhaust,  in  an  extensive  lumber  business.  All  this,  it  shouhl  be  borne  in 
mind,  is  in  addition  to  the  extt'nsive  cultivation  and  stock-growing  on  his 
own  form. 

Notwithstanding  the  variety  and  extent  of  his  purely  bu.siness  transactions, 
Mr.  l^ike  has  also  found  leisure  to  fill  with  efficiency  many  stations  in  the  public 
service.  At  one  period  of  his  career,  during  several  successive  years  he  was 
selectman  of  Cornish.  This  led  the  way  to  other  offices.  He  who  had  dis- 
charged with  faithfulness  and  skill  the  responsibilities  in  the  town,  was  deemed 
wortTiy  to  be  honored  with  higher  duties,  and  Mr.  Pike  found  himself,  in  1859, 
1860,  and  1801,  the  incumbent  of  the  office  of  county  commissioner  for  Sulli- 
van county.  At  the  end  of  his  third  term,  his  fellow-townsmen  withdrew  him 
from  the  commissionship.  which  he  had  ably  filled,  and  made  him  their  rejiresen- 
tative  to  the  general  court  for  18(J2.  and  again  for  1S():>.  He  made  an  intelli- 
gent and  active  legislator,  and  soon  became  familiar  with  the  business  of  the 
house.  The  estimate  which  was  put  upon  his  services  and  standing  in  the  house 
is  seen  in  the  fact  that  in  his  first  year  he  served  on  the  committee  on  manufac- 
tures, and,  in  his  second  year,  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  banks, 
which  at  the  time  was  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  responsible  j.ositions  in  the 
house.  If  Mr.  l*ike  did  not  often  attempt  to  influence  legislation  by  debate,  he 
had  what  Wirt  attributes  to  Jefferson,  "  the  out-of-door  talent  of  chamber  con- 
sultation.' and  used  it  with  good  eff'ect.  The  years  1802  and  1863  were  two  of 
the  most  anxious  and  trying'years  of  the  civil  war,  and  perplexing  propositions 
were  brought  before  the  legislature  for  solution.  There  were  sharp  antagonisms 
and  earnes^t  debates  among  the  strong  men  of  those  sessions  ;  questions  of  juris- 
diction and  policy  touching  the  national  defense  and  the  rights  of  states,  new  to 
legislation  and  embittered  by  party  rancor,  became  the  subjects  of  action;  the 
frequent  calls  for  men  and  money  to  meet  the  demand  which  the  prolonged  and 
sanguinary  conflict  made  upon  the  state  gave  to  the  legislation  of  the  period 
unpi-ecedented  interest  and  importance.  Through  it  all,  no  man  was  more  active, 
more  true,  or  more  patriotic,  than  Capt.  Pike. 

In  1863,  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  ai)pointed  provost-marshal  ol  the 
third  New  Hampshire  district,  and  during  that  and  the  two  succeeding  years, 
when  the  war-cloud  hung  heavy  and  dark  on  the  southern  horizon,  he  discharged 
the  duties  of  this  delicate  and  difficult  office  with  unusual  ability,  and  received 
from  Mr.  Frye,  the  provost-marshal-general,  the  highest  possible  commendation 
for  the  integrity  and  success  with  which  he  administered  the  aff'airs  of  his  de- 
partment of  the  iiublic  service.  Associated  with  him  in  this  branch  of  the  mili- 
tary organization,  were  some  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  state:  Hon.  Francis  A. 
Faulkner,  an  able  lawver  of  Keene,  was  commissioner,  and  Dixi  Crosby,  the  dis- 
tinguished head  of  the  Dartmouth  :Me(lical  College,  was  surgeon  of  the  board  of 
enndlnient;  Senator  H.  W.  Hlair.  lion.  Ossian  Bay,  and  Col.  Nelson  Converse 
of  Marlborough  were  the  deputy-marslials,  and  Judge  W.  H.  H.  Allen  of  New- 
port, C.  C.  Kind.all,  Esip.  of '  Charlestown.  and  Henry  C.  Henderson,  Ks(|., 
of  Keene,  were  i-lerks  of  the  board.  To  have  conducted  the  office  in  a  way 
to  secure  the  respect  and  co-oi)eration  of  such  a  body  ol"  men  is  in  itself  a 
distinguished  honor. 


126  OHESTEE    PIKE. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Pike  received  tlie  nopiination  for  councilor  of  the  fourth 
councilor  district,  but  declined,  and  was  subse({uently  appointed  United  States 
collector  of  internal  revenue.  His  administration  of  the  duties  of  this  position 
was  deservedly  popular  with  the  department  at  Washington,  and  with  the  people 
at  home,  and  he  remained  in  it  till  the  districts  of  the  state  were  consolidated. 
In  1876  he  was  a  delegate  from  Cornish  in  the  constitutional  convention,  receiv- 
ing every  vote  cast  by  his  fellow-townsmen. 

In  addition  to  these  public  offices,  Mr.  Pike  has  been  a  director  in  the  Clare- 
mont  National  Bank  for  fifteen  years,  and  an  active  member  and  officer  of  the 
Sullivan  County,  the  Connecticut  River,  the  New  Hampshire  State,  and  the  New 
England  agricultural  societies.  To  have  earned  and  to  have  enjoyed  the  popu- 
lar favor  in  a  republic  and  in  so  many  and  varied  places  of  honorable  trust,  is  to 
have  passed  the  crucial  test  of  fitness  for  public  life. 

Few  men  of  positive  character  and  recognized  ability,  if  in  exalted  positions, 
are  so  fortunate,  in  this  age,  as  to  escape  criticism  ;  but  it  will  be  acknowledged 
that  in  all  the  state  and  national  trusts  held  by  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  he  has 
so  borne  himself  as  to  win  the  approval  of  the  authorities,  the  good  will  of  the 
people,  and  the  respect  of  his  friends. 

In  1862,  Mr.  Pike  was  united  in  marriage  to  Amanda  M.  Fay,  the  daughter 
of  Hon.  Levi  Chamberlain  Fay,  of  Windsor,  Vt.,  a  lady  of  attractive  manners 
and  varied  accomplishments.  Mrs.  Pike  has  been  a  most  loyal  wife  in  all  the 
relations  of  life,  and  the  beloved  mother  of  four  children,  —  three  sons  and  a 
daughter, —  of  whom  but  one  survives,  Chester  Fay  Pike,  a  lad  of  twelve  years. 

In  the  above  narrative,  we  have  done  little  more  tban  to  set  down  in  order 
the  events  in  the  life  of  a  quiet  citizen  of  one  of  the  country  towns  of  our 
state ;  but,  when  we  consider  how  much  this  gentleman  has  accomplished  and  that 
he  is  only  now  at  the  meridian  of  life,  we  realize  that  his  is  no  ordinary  career, 
and  that  New  England  does  not  furnish  a  long  catalogue  of  men  who  have  so 
well  illustrated  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  and  the  possibilities  of  a  sagacious 
mind  that  has  a  fixed  purpose  to  succeed  in  the  race  of  life.  The  man  who 
does  difficult  work  and  wins  the  love  of  friends  deserves  to  be  honored  of  all. 
In  all  the  relations  of  public  and  private  life  Mr.  Pike, — 

"By  nature  honest,  by  exiierience  wise, 
Healthy  by  temperance  and  exercise," 

has  acted  well  his  part,  and  so  honored  his  state,  and  made  a  name  which  his 
descendants  will  cherish  in  the  years  to  come. 


^^.  C^(^ 


.C.£^<^<^^^^ 


COL.  THOMAS   P.  PIERCE. 


BY    HON.    JOHN    H.    GOODALE. 


Most  of  the  success  and  thrift  which  during  the  past  thirty  years  have 
attended  the  manufiicturing  interests  of  New  Hampshire  are  due  to  the  untiring 
industry  and  intelligent  foresight  of  that  class  of  self-reliant,  progressive  business 
men  who,  starting  in  life  with  ordinary  advantages,  have  had  the  nerve  to  seize 
and  the  capacity  to  improve  the  opportunities  within  their  reach.  Prominent 
among  this  class  of  enterprising  and  valuable  citizens  of  this  state  is  the  gentle- 
man whose  name  stands  at  the  head  of  this  page,  —  Hon.  Tho.mas  P.  Pierce. 

Col.  Pierce  was  born  in  Chelsea,  Mass.,  on  the  HOth  of  August,  1820.  He 
came  from  Revolutionary  stock  on  both  the  father's  and  mother's  side.  After 
limited  training  in  the  public  schools,  he  learned  the  trade  of  carriage  and  orna- 
mental painting  in  Boston. 

In  1840,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  came  to  Manchester,  which  was  then 
springing  into  existence  as  a  manufacturing  village,  under  the  ausjiices  of  the 
Amoskeag  Land  and  Water  Company.  Three  years  jirevious  the  first  improve- 
ments were  begun,  and  it  was  now  a  Inistling  town  of  six  hundred  families,  gath- 
ered from  every  section  of  northern  New  P^ngland.  With  much  of  the  rush  and 
recklessness  of  a  newly  grown  community,  there  were  then  germs  of  that  energy 
which  has  since  made  Manchester  an  eminently  prosperous  city.  Young  Pierce, 
not  yet  of  age,  worked  as  a  journeyman  at  his  trade,  and  by  his  unvarying  cour- 
tesy and  cheerful  spirit  was  a  favorite  among  his  associates.  He  was  an  active 
member  of  the  famous  Stark  Guards,  —  a  military  organization  of  which  Hon. 
George  W.  Morrison  and  Walter  French,  Esq.,  were  successively  in  command. 

There  is  no  more  exhaustive  test  of  a  young  mans  stamina  than  life  in  a 
rapidly  growing  manufacturing  village.  One  literally  goes  in  and  out  in  the 
presence  of  the  enemies'  pickets,  though  they  may  not  be  intentional  enemies. 
The  temptation  to  excess  is  constant  and  persistent.  Often  the  most  brilliant  and 
sagacious  fall  victims.  It  is  to  the  ci'edit  of  Thomas  P.  Pierce  that  he  })assed 
the  ordeal  unscathed.  In  the  summer  of  1842  it  Avas  his  good  fortune  to  marry 
Miss  Asenath  R.  McPherson,  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  in  the  adjoining  town 
of  Bedford. 

The  war  with  Mexico  began  in  184(),  When  it  was  decided  that  an  army 
under  Gen.  Scott  should  be  raised  to  march  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  it  was  (irdered 
that  a  regiment  of  infantry  should  be  raised  in  New  England.  Mr.  Pierce  at 
once  volunteered  as  a  private,  and  was  soon  after  commissioned,  by  President 
Polk,  as  second  lieutenant  of  one  of  the  companies  of  the  New  England  regi- 
ment. The  command  of  this  regiment  was  first  assigned  to  Franklin  Pierce;  but 
on  his  promotion  to  the  command  of  a  brigade  it  was  given  to  Truman  B. 
Ransom,  a  brave  and  accomplished  officer  from  A'ermont. 

Early  in  the  summer  the  brigade  under  Gen.  Pierce  was  ordered  to  proceed 
to  the  eastern  coast  of  Mexico,  and  to  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Vera  Cruz,  to  be 
ready  to  co-operate  with  the  main  army  under  Gen.  Scott  in  the  march  to  the 


128  COL.    THOMAS    T.    PTERCK. 

Mexican  capital.  Tlic  troops  cli8enil)arked  on  the  28th  of  June,  —  a  most  un- 
favorable season  of  tlie  year.  The  heat  was  so  intense  on  the  lowlands  that  to 
march  between  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon  was  impos- 
sible. With  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  officers,  the  entire  force  was  made  up 
of  new  recruits.  It  occupied  two  weeks  to  secure  mules  for  army  transportation. 
On  the  14th  of  July  the  movement  toward  the  city  of  Mexico  began,  and,  on 
reaching  the  foothills,  every  bridge  and  fortified  pass  was  strongly  guarded  by 
hostile  Mexicans.  There  was  constant  skirmishing,  and  the  enemy,  from  the 
cliflFs  and  tliickets,  made  annoying  and  sometimes  dangerous  attacks.  The 
climate,  the  difficulties  of  marching,  and  hai'dships  of  a  military  life  in  a  strange 
country  bore  heavily  on  the  inexperienced  soldiery.  Amid  these  perplexities, 
the  tact,  the  genial  spirit,  and  untiring  attention  to  the  wants  of  his  comrades 
won  for  Lieut.  Pierce  a  high  regard  and  strong  ])ersonal  attachment.  In  the 
sharp  conflicts  which  occurred  on  reaching  the  table-lands,  Lieut.  Pierce  took  an 
active  part.  At  tlie  battle  of  Contreras,  fought  August  10,  he  was  personally 
complimented  by  Col.  Ransom  for  bravery,  —  himself  soon  after  a  martyr  to  his 
personal  valor. 

Reaching  the  higher  lands.  Gen.  Scott  found  the  flower  of  the  Mexican 
army  entrenched  among  the  cliff's  of  Churubusco.  To  leave  the  enemy  in  the 
rear  was  to  hazard  everything ;  and  in  the  dangerous  task  of  dislodging  and 
utterly  routing  them  the  New  England  regiment  bore  a  conspicuous  part.  In 
his  report  of  the  battle,  Gen.  Scott  placed  the  name  of  Lieut.  Pierce  on  the  list 
of  those  recommended  for  promotion  on  account  of  gallant  and  meritorious  con- 
duct. The  storming  of  Chepultepec  soon  followed,  in  which  the  New  England 
regiment  had  literally  to  cross  a  succession  of  ridges  and  ravines,  exposed  to  a 
deadly  fire  from  the  enemy  among  the  crags.  The  assault  was  successful,  and 
the  surrender  of  the  Mexican  capital  immediately  followed.  In  this  action,  and 
in  the  details  of  patrol  service  during  the  winter,  while  the  city  was  occupied  by 
the  American  army,  Lieut.  Pierce  was  officially  commended  for  the  vigilant  dis- 
charge of  his  duties. 

The  camjiaign  in  Mexico,  with  its  varied  experiences,  had,  without  doubt,  a 
marked  and  favorable  eifect  upon  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The  novelty  of 
climate  and  productions,  the  grandeur  of  the  scenery,  and  the  immense  natural 
resources  of  that  region  were  not  lost  upon  him.  But  of  still  greater  value  was 
the  experience  gained  from  association  with  men  of  large  attainments,  positive 
ideas,  strong  will,  and  comprehensive  views.  The  majority  of  the  army  officers 
in  that  campaign  were  of  this  character ;  and  the  young  soldier,  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  returned  home  in  March,  1848,  with  higher  aims  and  a  Ijctter  and  truer 
estimate  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  life. 

Col.  Pierce  again  engaged  in  business  at  his  trade,  in  Manchester,  which, 
in  the  meantime,  had  been  incorporated  a  city.  In  1849  he  became  a  member  of 
the  city  government ;  and  in  the  same  year  was  aytpointed  a  member  of  Gov. 
Dinsmoor's  staff.  Upon  the  inauguration  of  Gen.  Franklin  Pierce  as  president, 
in  March,  1853,  he  was  aj)pointcd  postmast(>r  at  Manchester.  This  position,  in 
the  largest  and  most  ])rosperous  city  of  the  state,  was  one  of  unusual  labor  and 
responsibility.  Col.  Pierce  filled  the  office  for  eight  years,  and  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  the  citizens  of  all  parties. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  in  1861,  Col.  Pierce  was  selected  by 
Gov.  Goodwin  as  commander  of  the  Second  New  Hampshire  regiment,  of  the 
three  months'  troops.  Having  satisfactorily  discharged  his  duties,  he  retired 
after  the  term  of  enlistment  was  changed  to  three  years.  The  next  year,  Sep- 
tember, 18G2,  unexpected  difficulties  having  arisen.  Gov.  Berry  telegraphed  to 
Col.  Pierce  to  take  command  of  the   Twelfth   New  Hampshire  regiment,  then 


COL.    THOMAS    P.    PTKROE.  129 

onnipleting  itp  organization  at  C-oncnrcl.  Ilftw  well  lie  accomplished  the  dnty 
assigned  him  was  expressed  in  a  statement,  signed  hy  the  officers  of  the  regiment, 
at  the  time  of  his  witlidrawal,  in  the  following  words :  — 

•'  ^'nllr  generous  and  patriotic  course  in  assuming  temporary  command  of  tlie 
regiment  during  a  period  of  great  excitement  and  confusion,  thereby  saving  it 
from  dissolution  and  the  state  from  disgrace,  merits  our  admiration  and  sin- 
cere thanks.' 

In  ISnt),  Col.  IMerce  removed  tit  Nashua,  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  the 
manufacture  of  card-board  and  glazed  pajier.  Since  then  he  has  been  an  active 
member  and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Nashua  Card  and  Glazed- l*aper  Com- 
jiany,  —  one  of  the  most  successful  business  enterprises  in  the  state,  and  which, 
in  the  variety  and  excellence  of  its  products,  is  not  surpassed  by  any  corporation 
of  its  kind  in  the  country.  Col.  Pierce  is  also  a  director  of  the  Contoocook 
Valley  Paper  Company  in  Henniker,  a  director  of  the  Second  National  Bank 
and  president  of  the  Mechanics  Savings  Bank  at  Nashua. 

In  1874,  Col.  Pierce  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  state 
senate,  the  only  candidate  of  his  party  ever  elected  from  that  district ;  and  in 
1875  and  1876  he  was  sheriff  of  Hillsborough  county.  While  unwavering  in 
his  attachment  to,  and  support  of,  the  Democratic  party,  he  is  not  rabid  in  his 
policy  or  partisan  in  his  associations.  When  President  Hayes  visited  Nashua,  in 
1877,  he  was  selected  by  the  city  government  as  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
arrangements ;  and  no  citizen  took  a  more  efficient  part  in  securing  a  proper 
observance  of  the  obsequies  of  President  Garfield.  He  and  liis  family  are 
attendants  of  the  Universalist  church. 

In  his  social  and  domestic  relations,  Col.  I'ierce  has  been  fortunate.  Of  his 
two  children,  the  eldest,  Mrs.  Julia  M.,  wife  of  William  N.  Johnson,  resides  at 
West  Henniker,  where  her  husband  is  a  paper  manufacturer ;  his  son,  Mr. 
Frank  Pierce,  is  associated  with  him  in  business. 

A  few  years  since,  having  purchased  the  homestead  of  the  late  Gen.  J.  G. 
Foster,  he  built  a  spacious  and  elegant  residence.  Situated  on  an  acclivity  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Nashua  river,  surrounded  by  ample  grounds  and  stately  trees, 
it  is  a  home  of  rare  attractions.  Col.  Pierce  is  still  in  the  prime  of  active  life, 
and  his  past  record,  as  well  as  his  present  position,  is  a  guarantee  that  he  will 
ably  and  faithfully  meet  the  responsibilities  of  the  future. 


COL.  MARTIN  V.  B.  EDGERLY. 


BY    H.    H.    METCALP. 


In  these  days  of  varying  fortune  in  business  life,  and  in  this  country  espe- 
cially, where  property  is  accumulated  or  lost  more  readily  and  frequently  than  in 
any  other  land,  the  beneficent  nature  of  the  institution  of  life  assurance  has 
come  to  be  very  generally  appreciated.  This  institution,  which,  so  far  as  its  gene- 
ral establishment  is  concerned,  is  peculiarly  an  American  one,  is  indeed  a  natural 
outgrowth  of  our  social  and  business  system,  and  is  coming  to  be  more  fully  recog- 
nized, from  year  to  year,  in  one  form  or  another,  as  the  only  medium  through 
which  men  in  general  business,  or  most  of  the  avocations  of  life,  may  make  sub- 
stantially sure  provision  for  the  support  of  their  families  or  those  depending 
upon  them,  in  case  of  their  own  removal  by  death  before  acquiring  a  compe- 
tency, or  after  the  loss  of  the  same  through  business  reverses  or  adventitious 
circumstances.  The  man  who  stands  before  the  public  as  a  leading  representa- 
tive of  an  institution  of  such  importance  becomes  properly  a  person  of  note  in 
the  business  community  ;  and  when  he  is  endowed  with  those  powers  and  quali- 
ties of  mind  which  naturally  bring  him  into  prominence  in  social  and  political 
circles  and  the  general  activities  of  life,  he  may  well  be  classed  among  those  who 
are  esteemed  representative  men  of  the  times  in  the  state  and  section  wherein 
he  resides,  and  which  is  the  field  of  his  active  labor.  Such  a  man  is  the  subject 
of  this  sketch. 

Martin  Van  Bjren  Eduerly  is  a  native  of  the  town  of  Barnstead,  —  a 
town,  by  the  way,  which  has  sent  out  its  productions  into  the  world  in  the  form 
of  able,  energetic  men,  —  men  of  strong  minds  in  strong  bodies,  who  have  made 
their  mark  in  the  world,  and  stand  at  the  front  in  the  various  fields  of  activity  in 
which  they  have  engaged.  In  the  domain  of  law,  of  theology,  of  politics,  and 
of  general  business,  the  sons  of  Barnstead  hold  high  rank,  as  is  abundantly  demon- 
strated by  reference  to  the  names  of  Lewis  W.  Clark,  Bev.  Alonzo  H.  Quint,  John 
G.  Sinclair,  and  John  P.  Newell.  Mr.  Edgerly  was  the  fifth  of  nine  children  — 
five  sons  and  four  daughters  —  of  Samuel  J.  and  Eliza  (Bickford)  Kdgerly,  born 
Septeml)er  "IG,  lS?>,i.  Samuel  J.  Edgerly  was  a  man  of  far  more  than  ordinary 
intelligence  and  mental  activity,  who,  but  for  the  misfortune  of  disease,  which 
impaired  his  physical  jiowers  in  early  life,  would  have  become  unquestionably  a 
leading  spirit  in  public  affairs.  As  it  was,  he  was  recognized  by  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact  in  life  as  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  decided  character.  He 
was  a  descendant,  upon  the  maternal  side,  and  was  named  in  honor  of  that  Col. 
Samuel  Johnson  who  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  oi'  the  town  of  Northwood, 
and  of  whom  it  is  said,  in  sketching  the  history  of  that  town,  that  upon  the  first 
night  of  his  aboch;  within  its  limits  he  slept  upon  the  ground  between  two  rocks, 
with  a  (|uilt  or  ])iece  of  canvas  for  covering. 

When  a  lad  of  twelve  years.  Col.  Edgerly  removed  with  his  i»arents  to  Man- 
chester. He  attended  the  public  schools  for  a  time,  but  at  an  early  age  entered 
the  service  of  the  Amoskeag  Manufacturing  Company,  being  engaged  at  first  in 


COL.    MARTIN    V.    B.    EDGERLY.  131 

the  mills  and  afterwards  in  the  machine-shop ;  hut,  after  several  years,  becoming 
dissatisfied  with  the  dull  routine  of  mechanical  labor,  and  desirous  of  testing  his 
powers  in  the  field  of  business,  in  October,  1856,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three, 
he  embarked  in  trade  as  a  joint  proprietor  of  a  drug-store  with  Mr.  Lewis  H. 
Parker.  He  was  thus  engaged  but  a  short  time,  however,  removing  the  following 
year  to  the  town  of  Pittsfield,  where  he  soon  established  himself  in  the  insurance 
business,  taking  the  agency  of  various  companies,  fire  and  life.  This,  it  may  be 
truly  said,  was  the  actual  starting  point  in  his  career.  He  found  in  this  business 
a  field  of  labor  congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  develoj)ment 
and  exercise  of  the  distinctive  powers  of  mind  and  body  with  which  he  is 
endowed ;  and  he  entered  into  his  wiu'k  with  heart  and  soul.  He  was  not  long 
in  discovering  the  si)ecial  line  of  effort  to  which  he  was  best  adapted,  and  which 
gave  the  best  promise  of  substantial  success  in  resjMjnse  to  such  effort ;  nor  were 
the  managers  of  the  business  in  question  long  in  ascertaining,  from  the  character 
of  the  work  already  accomplished,  the  direction  in  which  their  own  advantage 
lay;  and  so  it  came  about  in  a  short  time,  that  after  a  visit  to  the  company's 
office  in  Springfield,  made  upon  the  solicitation  of  the  president.  Col.  Edgerly 
became  exclusively  the  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, relinquishing  all  other  agencies,  and  devoting  his  entire  eiforts  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  company. 

So  thorough  and  satisfactory  was  the  work  which  he  accomplished,  that  a 
year  later  he  was  given  the  general  agency  of  the  company  for  the  state  of  New 
Hampshire,  with  headquarters  at  jNIanchester,  to  which  city  he  removed  with  his 
family,  when,  in  18G3,  he  was  given  charge  of  the  business  for  Vermont  and 
northern  New  York  in  addition  to  this  state.  Tnder  his  efficient  management 
and  supervision  the  business  of  the  company  increased  to  a  remarkable  degree 
in  the  entire  territory  of  which  he  had  control,  until  the  net  annual  receipts  in 
premiums  upon  new  policies,  in  New  Hampshire  alone,  had  risen  from  substan- 
tially nothing  in  1859,  when  he  first  commenced  work,  to  nearly  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  in  1866,  representing  the  proceeds  from  the  issue  of  a  thousand 
policies,  covering  an  aggregate  insurance  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars.  This  remarkable  success  was  due,  not  simply  to  the  work  of  personal 
solicitation,  in  which  line  Col.  Edgerly  has  no  superiors,  but  more  especially  to 
the  keen  discernment  and  ready  knowledge  of  men  with  which  he  is  endowed, 
enabling  him  to  select  proper  agents  and  judiciously  supervise  their  work. 

In  1868  he  accepted  the  position  of  superintendent  of  the  company's 
agencies  throughout  the  country.  For  two  years  he  labored  as  none  but  a  physi- 
cally robust  and  mentally  active  man  can,  establishing  agencies  and  working  up 
the  business  of  the  company  throughout  the  West,  while  retaining  and  directing 
his  own  special  work  in  the  East.  This  double  labor  was  too  arduous,  even  for  a 
man  of  his  powers,  and  in  1870  he  resigned  the  position  of  superintendent,  and 
confined  his  work  to  his  former  field  in  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  and  northern 
New  York.  In  September,  1874,  however,  he  was  induced  to  accept  charge  of 
the  company's  agency  in  Boston,  in  addition  to  his  other  duties,  and  since  that 
date  he  has  divided  his  time  and  hibor  between  the  two  positions,  efficiently  direct- 
ing the  work  of  both,  and  largely  increasing  the  business  at  the  Boston  office.  In 
January  last  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  company 
which  he  has  so  long  and  faithfully  served,  and  which  owes  its  prosperity,  in  no 
small  degree,  to  his  intelligent  efforts. 

Col.  Edgei-ly  has  been  a  Democrat  from  youth,  and  has  ever  manifested  a 
lively  interest  in  political  affairs,  although  he  has  had  neither  the  time  nor  incli- 
nation to  enter,  to  any  extent,  upon  the  duties  of  public  position,  even  had  it 
been  in  the  power  of  his  party  to  confer  the  same.      He  has,  however,  in  such 


132  COI..    MARTIN    V.    B.    EJ)CIERLY. 

time  as  he  was  able  to  command,  done  a  great  deal  of  party  work  in  diflFerent  cam- 
paigns; and  in  1874  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  although 
his  ward  was  strongly  Kepublican  at  the  time,  thus  demonstrating  his  personal 
popularity  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  in  the  community  where  he  re- 
sides. He  has  fre(juently  served  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  state  commit- 
tee, and  as  treasurer  of  the  same,  and  a  member  of  the  executive  committee ; 
also,  as  chairman  of  the  Democratic  city  committee  in  Manchester.  He  was  a 
delegate  from  New  Hampshire  to  the  Democratic  national  convention  at  Balti- 
more, in  1872,  which  nominated  Horace  Greeley  for  the  presidency,  and  was  the 
New  Hampshire  member  of  the  Democratic  national  committee  from  1872  to 
1876.  Again,  in  1880,  he  was  chosen  a  delegate-at-large  to  the  national  conven- 
tion of  his  party.  Tn  1871  he  was  appointed,  by  (rov.  Weston,  chief  of  staif ;  and 
in  1873  and  1874  he  held  the  position  of  commander  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans, 
of  which  organization  he  has  long  been  an  active  and  popular  member.  In  1874 
he  was  appointed,  by  President  Grant,  an  alternate  commissioner  to  represent  New 
Hampshire  at  the  centennial  exposition  and  celebration  in  Philadelphia. 

Actively  and  closely  as  he  has  been  engaged  in  his  chosen  line  of  business. 
Col.  Edgerly  has  lent  his  aid  and  judgment  to  some  extent  to  the  encouragement 
and  direction  of  other  business  enterprises.  He  has  been  many  years  a  trustee 
of  the  Merrimack  River  Savings  Bank  and  a  director  of  the  Suncook  Valley 
Railroad,  of  which  latter  enterprise  he  was  among  the  active  promoters.  He 
was  also,  for  a  time,  a  director  of  the  City  National  Bank.  In  his  religious  asso- 
ciations he  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  is  an  active  member  and  officer  of  Grace 
church  in  Manchester.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Masonic 
bodies  in  the  city  of  his  residence. 

March  7,  1854,  Col.  Edgerly  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Alvina  Bar- 
ney of  Danbury,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing, a  son  and  daughter, —  Clinton  Johnson,  born  December  IG,  1857,  and 
Mabel  Clayton,  born  October  18,  1859. 

Col.  Edgerly  is  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  genial  manners,  and  a 
ready  appreciation  of  the  demands  of  friendship  and  society,  as  well  as  those  of 
business.  There  are  few  men  of  greater  personal  popularity  in  his  city  or  state, 
and  none  who  command  more  fully  the  confidence  of  those  with  whom  they  are 
brought  into  relationship,  whether  in  business  or  in  social  life.  Yet  under  fifty 
years  of  age,  he  has,  it  may  naturally  be  assumed,  many  years  of  successful 
effort  yet  before  him,  and  many  more  in  which  to  enjoy  the  substantial  reward 
of  his  labor. 


^s-^^^W""^  '-^i'i.st  ^ 


At    ^  ^—-^   ^^ 


0  (S  M /^i  iB  ®  E)    © 

GOVSJRJ^OJ^  02="  NEW  IijU\--. 


HON.  ICHABOD  GOODWIN. 


BY    FRANK    GOODWIN. 


Mr.  Goodwin  is  the  eldest  son  of  Samuel  Goodwin  and  Nancy  Thompson 
Gerrish,  and  was  born  in  that  part  of  Berwick  which  is  now  North  Berwick,  in 
the  state  of  Maine.  He  is  descended,  on  both  father's  and  mother's  side,  from 
tamilies  of  very  great  colonial  importance.  The  great-grandfather  of  JMr.  Good- 
win, Capt.  Ichabod  Goodwin,  is  said,  by  the  writer  of  the  genealogy  of  the 
Berwick  Goodwins,  in  the  Historical  Magazine,  to  have  been  the  most  remark- 
able man  who  ever  lived  in  that  town.  He  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Ticouderoga,  and  we  learn  from  the  IjomJon  Magazine  that  he  was  especially 
mentioned  in  Maj.-Gen.  Abercrombie's  report  to  Secretary  Pitt. 

On  his  father's  side,  his  ancestors  figured  conspicuously  in  the  wars  before 
the  Revolution,  and  up  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution  were  of  the  families 
upon  whom  devolved  the  magisterial  work  and  honor  of  the  times.  On  his 
mother's  side  he  is  likewise  descended  from  families  which  for  a  century,  and  up 
to  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  performed  a  large  share  of  the  duties  of  public 
office ;  and  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  names  in  the  colonial  history  of  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire  are  to  be  counted  among  his  maternal  ancestors. 

To  mention  the  names  of  Champernoun,  Waldron,  and  Elliot,  none  more 
familiar  to  those  informed  upon  colonial  history,  is  but  to  recall  the  persons  from 
whom,  on  the  maternal  side,  he  is  lineally  descended,  or  with  whom  his  maternal 
ancestors  were  closely  allied  by  ties  of  family  connection.  The  aute-revolution- 
ary  importance  of  the  people  from  whom  he  comes  is  well  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  the  name  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  Joseph  Gerrish,  stands  first  on  the 
triennial  catalogue  of  Harvard  College  in  the  list  of  gniduates  of  the  year  1752, 
a  class  which  numbered  a  Quincy  among  its  graduating  members.  The  signifi- 
cance of  this  fact,  as  bearing  upon  the  status  of  his  mother's  family  at  that  time, 
is,  that  the  names  of  the  members  of  the  classes  of  that  day  are  publishetl  in  the 
triennial  catalogue  of  Harvard  in  the  order  of  the  social  importance  of  the  fami- 
lies to  which  the  members  respectively  belonged. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Goodwin's  birth,  which  was  just  before  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  the  state  of  things  which  the  iievolution  had  brought  about 
had  had  ample  time  to  crystallize.  Whether  it  was  through  the  great  changes 
that  under  the  new  order  of  things  had  taken  place  in  the  political,  social,  and 
commercial  affairs  of  the  country,  or  whether  from  those  inherent  causes  under 
the  operation  of  which  families  conspicuous  and  infliu'ntial  in  one  period  drop 
out  of  notice  and  are  lost  to  tht'  eye  of  the  historian,  the  annalist,  and  perhaj)s 
even  of  the  town  chronicler,  Mr.  Goodwin's  family,  at  the  time  of  his  birth, 
were  simply  plain  farming  people,  highly  respected  within  the  limits  of  the  little 
country  town  in  which  they  lived,  but  no  longer  among  the  noted,  or  influential, 
or  wealthy  people  of  Maine.  The  country  had,  by  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
taken  a  considerable  stride  onward  in  prosperity  as  well  as  in  numerical  growth, 
and  the  bustle  and  hum   of  industry,  pouring  itself  into  new  channels  of  pros- 


134  HON.    ICHABOD    GOODWIN. 

perity,  liad  passed  by  many  of  the  families  wliich  in  the  earlier  era  had  been  the 
foremost  in  developing  the  resources  of  the  country,  in  leading  the  yeomanry  in 
war,  in  presiding  over  the  tribunals,  and  sitting  in  council  as  civic  magistrates. 

Mr.  (roodwin's  academic  education  consisted  of  several  years  of  study  at  the 
academy  at  South  Berwick,  an  institution  having  at  that  time  a  good  deal  of 
local  importance,  and  then,  as  now,  the  only  school  in  the  vicinity  of  his  birth- 
place where  a  fitting  for  college  could  be  obtained.  Shortly  after  leaving  that 
academy  he  entered  the  counting-house  of  Samuel  Lord,  Esq.,  then  a  very 
prominent  merchant  and  ship-owner  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  he  became  a 
member  of  Mr.  Lords  family.  He  here  displayed  qualities  which  had  been 
quite  conspicuous  in  his  earlier  boyhood, —  those  of  energy  and  assiduity  and  a 
very  marked  capacity  for  affairs.  These  qualities,  which  at  the  early  age  of 
twelve  had  made  him  quite  a  competent  and  satisfactory  manager  of  the  farm  of 
his  widowed  step-grandmother,  who  was  the  grandmother  of  Mr.  Lord,  showed 
later  in  his  conduct  as  a  clerk  in  the  commercial  business  of  the  then  very  thriving 
shipping  port  of  Portsmouth.  Mr.  Lord,  finding  that  Mr.  Goodwin's  business 
abilities  were  more  comprehensive  than  the  mere  duties  of  a  clerk  requii'ed,  placed 
him  as  a  supercargo  in  charge  of  the  business  of  what  was  then  the  largest  ship 
owned  in  the  port,  the  "  Elizabeth  Wilson.'"  In  the  present  days  of  railroads, 
sea-going  steamers,  oceanic  cables,  and  the  commercial  complement  of  these  for- 
eign correspondents  or  agents,  it  may  seem  a  trivial  sign  of  a  young  man's  capaci- 
ties to  name  the  fact  of  his  being  made  the  business  manager  of  a  ship,  especially 
as  ships  then  went  in  regard  to  size ;  but  it  is  the  introduction  of  these  very 
modern  appliances  for  conducting  business  which  has  rendered  the  responsibility 
of  the  delegated  management  of  this  species  of  propei'ty  comparatively  easy.  In 
the  days  of  Mr.  Goodwin's  early  voyaging,  the  whole  discretion  as  to  the  conduct 
of  the  ship's  aifairs  was  vested  in  the  supercargo,  except  in  the  brief  period  of 
her  being  in  the  home  port,  when  the  owner  resumed  his  authority  and  control. 
In  foreign  places,  among  strangers,  beyond  the  reach  of  opportunity  for  consul- 
tation with  his  owner,  the  young  man  must  rely  upon  himself ;  must  decide  upon 
what  voyage  his  ship  shall  go,  and  must  be  ready  to  account  to  his  principal  upon 
his  return  for  the  results  of  a  prosperous  enterprise  or  a  disastrous  adventure. 
It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  ( roodwin  had  learned  enough  of  seamanship  to  enable 
him  to  add  to  the  duties  of  the  supercargo  the  further  business  of  navigating  his 
ship,  so  that  for  several  years  he  was  both  ship-master  and  business  manager, 
offices  then,  as  now,  rarely  combined  in  one  person ;  for  the  ship-master  is  to-day 
chiefly  the  navigator  and  head  seaman  of  his  ship,  while  the  business,  involving 
the  chartering  and  the  rest,  is  attended  to  by  a  merchant  in  the  port  of  destina- 
tion, who  is  in  ready  communication  with  the  owner,  both  by  the  fast-going  mail 
of  the  steamship  and  the  quicker  method  of  the  ocean  cable.  Mr.  (Joodwin's 
sea  life  lasted  for  about  twelve  years.  During  that  time  he  had  been  so  far  suc- 
cessful as  to  Ijecome  a  part  owner,  and  to  be  enabled  to  begin  business  at  home. 

In  the  year  1832  he  established  himself  as  amerchant  at  Portsmouth.  Ports- 
mouth has  been  his  home  ever  since  that  time ;  and  there  he  for  many  years 
conducted  an  extensive  mercantile  business,  his  chief  business  interests  lying  in 
the  direction  of  the  foreign  carrying-trade.  Upon  leaving  the  sea  he  soon 
became  foremost  in  matters  that  were  of  public  concern.  He  was  one  of  the 
early  projectors  of  the  railroad  interests  of  New  England;  and,  until  within 
a  few  years,  he  has  taken  a  large  ]iart  in  all  the  enterprises  of  public  import 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  home,  including,  besides  railroads,  the  enterprises  of  manu- 
facturing and  banking;  and  he  has  been  vested  always  with  a  large  share  of 
the  local  trusts,  both  public  and  private,  which  devolve  upon  the  public-spirited 
and  trusted  citizen.  He  has  of  late  years  been  inclined  to  withdraw  from  these 
responsibilities ;    but   of   those    which    he   still    retains,   the    presidency   of   the 


HOX.    ICHABOD    GOODWIN.  185 

Howard  Benevolent  Society,  a  position  he  has  held  for  over  thirty  years,  and 
the  {)residency  of  the  Portsmouth  Brid<^e  Company  may  be  mentioned.  He  has, 
however,  witliin  the  last  two  years,  assumed  tlie  presidency  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Portsmouth,  in  which  he  is  largely  interested  as  a  stockholder, 
and  in  which  institution  he  had  been  a  director  from  its  incorporation  as  a  state 
bank.  He  was  for  many  years  and  at  diflferent  periods  a  director  in  the  Eastern 
Kailroad  Company,  and  was  the  first  president  of  the  Eastern  Kailroad  in  New 
Hampshire,  which  position  he  held  for  twenty-five  years.  He  was  also  of  the 
first  board  of  direction  of  the  Portland.  Saco,  &  Portsmouth  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  was  the  president  of  that  corporation  from  the  year  1847  to  the  year  • 
1871.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  mention  all  the  public  trusts  of  a  corporate 
nature  which  have  been  confided  to  his  care.  His  chief  claim  to  public  esteem, 
and  that  which  will  secure  to  him  its  most  enduring  recognition,  is  derived  from 
his  services  as  the  first  "  war  governor"  of  New  Hampshire. 

Upon  Mr.  (loodwin's  settling  as  a  business  man  in  Portsmouth,  he  did  not  con- 
fine his  en-rgies  to  his  private  business  and  to  corporate  enterprises,  but  soon 
acquired  a  large  interest  and  influence  as  a  member  of  the  Whig  party.  He 
served  in  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire,  as  a  member  of  that  party,  in  the 
years  1838,  1843,  1844,  1850,  1854,  and  1856.  He  was  also  a  delegate-at-large 
from  that  state  to  the  conventions  at  which  Clay,  Taylor,  and  Scott  were  nomi- 
nated by  the  Whigs  for  the  presidency,  and  was  a  vice-president  at  the  first  two 
named  conventions ;  and  he  has  twice  served  in  the  constitutional  conventions  of 
New  Hampshire.  He  was  the  candidate  of  the  Whigs  for  congress  at  several 
elections  before  the  state  was  divided  into  congressional  districts.  New  Hamp- 
shire was  in  those  days  one  of  the  most  powerful  str(jngholds  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  country  ;  and  a  Whig  nomination  for  any  office,  determined  by  the 
suffrages  of  the  whole  state,  was  merely  a  tribute  of  esteem  by  that  party  to  one 
of  its  most  honored  members.  Upon  the  establishment  of  congressional  dis- 
tricts, Mr.  (rood win  received  a  unanimous  nomination  of  the  Whig  party  for 
congress  at  the  first  convention  held  in  his  district.  This  nomination  bid  fair  to 
be  followed  by  an  election,  but  the  circumstances  of  his  private  business  pre- 
vented his  acceptance  of  the  candidateship.  In  the  great  political  convulsions 
which  preceded  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  the  power  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
New  Hampshire  began  to  decline,  while  the  ties  which  through  years  of  almost 
steady  defeat  in  the  state  at  large  had  been  sufficient  to  hold  together  the  Whig 
party,  now  came  to  be  loosened,  and  out  of  the  decadence  of  the  former  and  the 
extinction  of  the  latter  party  there  was  built  up  the  llepublican  party,  which 
gained  the  supremacy  in  the  state,  and  which  has  ever  since,  with  a  brief  excep- 
tion, maintained  that  supremacy.  Mr.  Uoodwin,  while  in  full  sympathy  with 
the  cause  of  the  Union,  which  he  believed  the  politicians  of  the  South  were 
striving  to  dismember,  yet  felt  that  perhaps  the  impending  crisis  could  be 
arrested  through  the  means  of  the  old  political  organizations ;  and  he  remained 
steadfast  to  the  organization  of  the  Whig  party  until  he  saw  that  its  usefulness, 
both  as  a  state  and  as  a  national  party,  was  gone.  He  was  the  last  candidate  of 
the  Whigs  for  the  office  of  governor  of  New  Hampshire,  and  received  in  the 
whole  state  the  meager  amount  of  about  two  thousand  votes.  This  lesson  did 
not  require  to  be  repeated.  He  immediately  did  all  in  his  power  to  aid  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Republican  party  in  this  state ;  for,  although  the  old-time 
issues  between  the  Democrats  and  Whigs  had  gone  by,  and  new  questions  had 
arisen  involving  the  very  integrity  of  the  nation,  he  did  not  regard  the  Demo- 
cratic party  as  one  capable  of  solving  or  disj)osed  to  solve  those  questions  in  a 
patriotic  and  statesmanlike  way.  He  was  chosen  the  governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, as  the  Republican  candidate,  in  the  year  1859,  and  was  re-elected  in  the 
following  year,  his  second  term  of  office  having  expired  on  June  5,  1861. 


136  ho:n".  ichabod  good  win. 

The  military  spirit  of  the  people  of  New  Hampshire  had  become  dormant, 
and  the  militia  system  of  the  state  had  fallen  pretty  much  to  decay  long  before 
the  election  of  Mr.  (loodwin  to  the  office  of  governor.  A  slight  revival  of  that 
spirit,  perhaps,  is  marked  by  the  organization  in  his  honor,  in  January,  1860, 
of  the  "Governor's  Horse-Guards," — a  regiment  of  cavalry  in  brilliant  uni- 
form, designed  to  do  escort  duty  to  the  governor, —  as  well  as  by  a  field  muster  of 
several  voluntary  organizations  of  troops  which  went  into  camp  at  Nashua  in  the 
same  year.  But  when  the  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  troops  was  made,  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  the  very  foundation  of  a  military  system  required  to  be  formed. 
The  legislature  was  not  in  session,  and  would  not  convene,  except  under  a  special 
call,  until  the  following  June.  There  were  no  funds  in  the  treasury  which  could 
be  devoted  to  the  expense  of  the  organization  and  equipment  of  troops,  as  all  the 
available  funds  were  needed  to  meet  the  ordinary  state  expenditures.  The  great 
confidence  of  the  people  of  New  Hampshire  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  Mr. 
(roodwin  found  in  this  emergency  full  expression.  Without  requiring  time  to 
convene  the  legislature  so  as  to  obtain  the  security  of  the  state  for  the  loan,  the 
banking  institutions  and  citizens  of  the  state  tendered  him  the  sum  of  $680,000, 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  him  to  raise  and  equip  for  the  field  New  Hampshire's 
(juota  of  troops.  This  offer  he  gladly  accepted ;  and  averting  delay  in  the  pro- 
ceedings by  refraining  from  convening  the  legislature,  he,  upon  his  own  respon- 
sibility, proceeded  to  organize  and  equip  troops  for  the  field ;  and  in  less  than 
two  months  he  had  dispatched  to  the  army,  near  Washington,  two  well  equipped 
and  well  officered  regiments.  Of  this  sum  of  $680,000,  only  about  $100,000 
was  expended.  On  the  assembling  of  the  legislature,  that  body  unanimously 
passed  the  "enabling  act,"'  under  which  all  of  his  proceedings  as  governor  were 
ratified,  and  the  state  made  to  assume  the  responsibility. 

During  the  period  of  this  gubernatorial  service,  there  was  a  reconstruction  of 
the  bench  of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  the  state ;  and  during  that  time 
nearly  every  position  upon  that  court  was  filled  by  his  appointment.  It  is  suffi- 
cient to  say  that  the  exalted  rank  which  that  tribunal  has  ever  held  among  the 
courts  of  last  resort  of  the  states  of  the  nation,  suff"ered  no  diminution  from  his 
appointments  to  its  bench,  such  was  the  good  sense  and  discernment  of  Mr. 
Goodwin  in  making  the  selections,  although  himself  not  versed  in  the  law. 

"Waite's  History  of  New  Hampshire  in  the  Rebellion"  gays  of  him:- — 

"  His  administration  ol'  state  aft'airs  met  with  universal  approval,  and  he  left 
the  office  (that  of  governor)  with  the  respect  of  all  parties.  As  a  member  of 
the  legislature  and  of  the  constitutional  convention,  he  took  a  leading  part  on 
committees  and  in  debate.  His  speeches  were  never  made  for  show.  He  spoke 
only  when  there  seemed  to  be  occasion  for  it,  and  then  always  to  the  point,  and 
was  listened  to  with  great  respect  and  attention  ;  for  his  conservatism  and  prac- 
tical wisdom  in  all  matters  of  public  policy  were  well  known.  In  all  public  posi- 
tions he  has  discharged  his  duties  with  fidelity,  industry,  and  marked  ability. 
As  a  citizen  and  business  man  he  is  public-spirited,  liberal,  high-minded,  and 
enjoys  the  unbounded  confidence  and  respect  of  all.'" 

Mr.  Goodwin  has  always  been  noted  for  his  kindness  to  young  men,  aiding 
them  without  stint,  both  with  his  purse  and  his  advice  in  their  business  diffi- 
culties ;  and  he  has  ever  been  ready  to  extend  to  all  his  ownsmen  who  needed 
aid  the  assistance  of  his  influence,  his  counsel,  and  his  pecuniary  means. 

In  1827,  Mr.  Cioodwin  married  Miss  Sarah  Parker  Ilice,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
William  Rice,  a  wealthy  and  prosperous  merchant  of  Portsmouth.  Of  seven 
children,  one  son  and  two  daughters  survive. 


^'^X)  ^2ty^ 


REV.  WILLIAM  COGSWI'LL,  I).  I). 


BY    REV.    E.    O.    JAMESON. 


William  C(h!swell,  the  eldest  of  the  four  Cogswell  brothers  whose  distin- 
guished lives  are  briefly  sketched  in  this  volume,  was  born  June  5,  1787,  in 
Atkinson,  N.  H.  His  ancestors  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Massachusetts, 
and  persons  of  quality,  piety,  and  distinction. 

His  descent  is  from  John  Cogswell,  who  settled  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  in  1G35, 
and  Giles  Badger,  who  settled  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  the  same  year. 

His  parents  were  Dr.  William  and  Judith  (Badger)  Cogswell,  of  Atkinson. 

His  grandparents  were  Nathaniel  and  Judith  (Badger)  Cogswell,  of  Haver- 
hill, Mass.,  and  (len.  Joseph  and  Hannah  (Pearson)  Badger,  of  (iilmanton. 

His  grandfiither,  Nathaniel  Cogswell,  was  the  son  of  Lieut.  John  and 
Hannah  (Goodhue)  Cogswell,  of  Chebacco  Parish,  Ipswich,  Mass.  Lieut.  John 
Cogswell  was  the  son  of  William  and  Susannah  Cogswell  t)f  the  same  place,  and 
William  Cogswell  was  the  son  of  *  John  and  Elizabeth  ( Thompson )  Cogswell, 
who  emigrated  from  Westbury,  Wilts  county,  England,  in  1G35,  and  settled  in 
Ipswich,  Mass. 

His  grandfather.  Gen.  Jo.seph  Badger,  was  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Hannah 
(Peaslee)  Badger,  of  Haverhill,  Mass.  Joseph  Badger  was  the  son  of  John,  Jr., 
and  Rebecca  (Browne)  Badger,  of  Newbury,  Mass.  John  Badger,  Jr.,  was  the 
son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Badger  of  the  same  place ;  and  John  Badger  was  the 
only  son  of  (Hies  and  Elizabeth  (Greenleaf )  Badger,  immigrants  to  Newbury, 
Mass.,  in  1635. 

It  may  be  said  of  his  ancestry,  in  general,  that  they  were  a  religious,  intelli- 
gent, liberty-loving,  and  an  enterprising  people.  By  reason  of  ability,  integrity, 
piety,  and  attainments,  many  of  them  have  been  called  to  positions  of  municipal, 
military,  political,  and  ecclesiastical  duty  and  eminence,  and  have  excelled  in  the 
learned  professions,  in  the  halls  of  legislature,  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the 
Christian  pulpit. 

From  such  choice  Puritan  stock,  having  in  his  veins  the  blood  of  the 
Thompsons,  the  Greenleafs,  the  Brownes,  the  Goodhues,  the  Peaslees,  and  the 
Pearsons,  as  well  as  of  the  Cogswells  and  the  Badgers,  it  is  not  strange  that  he 
and  his  no  less  eminent  brothers  should  be  found  among  the  distinguished  men 
whose  portraits  adorn  and  whose  biographies  fill  the  pages  of  this  volume. 

William  Cogswell  was  born  only  a  few  years  after  the  victory  of  our  great 
struggle  for  national  existence  and  independence.  His  rural  home  was  far  up 
the  side  of  one  of  New  Hampshire's  grand  old  hills,  sloping  southward  and 
crowned  with  a  New  England  meeting-house.  He  was  born  where  he  could 
breathe  to  heart's  content  the  ])ure  air  of  heaven,  look  oft"  upon  scenery  of  land- 
scape wide,  varied,  and  grand.  His  early  life  was  beneath  the  shadow  of  the 
best  religious  and  educational  institutions,  which  his  father  had  been  the  prime 

*  For  full    account  of  John  Cogswell,  whom  tnulition   calls    "  a  prosperous   London    merchant," 
see  "Cogswells  in  America,"  soon  to  be  iiublished. 
1» 


138  EEV.    WILLIAM    COGSWELL,    D.  D. 

mover  in  establishing.  In  full  sight  of  his  early  boyhoood's  home  was  the  acad- 
emy which  said  to  country  boys  of  those  days,  The  door  is  open  to  you  here  to 
enter  a  college  course  and  find  your  way  into  the  learned  professions.  The  lad 
heard  the  invitation,  seized  the  opportunity,  and  eagerly  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  at  Atkinson  Academy,  then  under  the  charge  of  John  Vose,  Esq.  He 
entered  the  sophomore  class  of  Dartmouth  College  in  1808,  maintained  a  high 
rank  of  scholarship  during  his  course,  and  was  honorablv  graduated  in  the  class 
of  1811. 

Before  entering  college,  William  Cogswell  received  deep  and  abiding  religious 
impressions  which  ripened  into  a  personal  religious  experience,  and  during  the 
vacation  of  his  junior  year,  September  23,  1810,  he  made  a  public  confession  of 
faith  and  united  with  the  Congregational  church  of  his  native  town.  After 
graduation  from  college  he  taught  in  the  academy  of  his  own  town,  in  Essex, 
Mass.,  and  was  one  year  principal  of  the  Hampton  Academy.  While  teaching 
in  Essex,  Mass.,  he  had,  for  a  pupil  in  the  classics,  a  lad  some  ten  years  of  age, 
whose  name  was  Rufus  Choate.     This  Rufus  Choate  was  heard  of  in  later  years. 

Meanwhile,  occupied  with  teaching,  Mr.  Cogswell  pursued  somewhat  his 
theological  studies,  having  his  eye  on  the  Christian  ministry.  At  the  end  of  two 
years,  he  found  that  his  labors  in  school  and  studies  out  of  school  had  told  seri- 
ously upon  his  health.  Acting  upon  the  advice  of  his  physician  and  of  his  min- 
ister, he  procured  a  good  saddle-horse  and  a  license  to  preach  the  gospel  in 
destitute  parts,  and  galloped  off  toward  the  northern  wilderness  of  his  native 
state,  in  eager  pursuit  of  health  and  men's  souls.  In  both  these  objects  he  was 
successful.  He  regained  his  health,  and  under  his  earnest  presentation  of  the 
gospel  a  large  number  of  persons  were  hopefully  converted  to  Christ,  and 
Christian  institutions  planted  in  the  then  spiritual  wastes,  which  have  since  blos- 
somed as  the  rose  and  borne  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God.  Upon  his  return,  Mr. 
Cogswell  completed  his  professional  studies  under  the  instruction  of  Rev.  Daniel 
Dana,  D.  D.,  of  Newburyport,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.,  of  Salem, 
Mass.  After  preaching  a  few  Sabbaths,  he  received  a  unanimous  call  to  become 
the  pastor  of  the  South  church  in  Dedham  (now  Norwood),  Mass.,  which  he 
accepted,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  over  that  church,  April  26,  1815. 

At  this  time,  Mr.  Cogswell  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  a  man  of  fine  per- 
sonal bearing  and  manners ;  his  warm  christian  spirit  and  deep  religious  experience 
spoke  in  the  very  lineaments  and  expression  of  his  open,  intelligent,  and  winning 
countenance.  His  qualities  of  mind  were  the  best,  his  education  thorough,  his 
grasp  of  truth  vigorous,  his  views  scriptural  and  discriminating,  and  his  faith  in 
Grod  and  Revelation  implicit. 

His  ministry  in  South  Dedham  lasted  fourteen  years,  and  was  of  unmeasured 
benefit  to  that  church,  at  once  stimulating  to  its  religious  life,  educating  to  its 
members  in  scriptural  doctrine,  and  successful  in  bringing  men  to  receive  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  their  Saviour. 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  a  preacher  whose  clear-cut  statements,  whose  logical  order, 
conclusiveness  of  argument,  and  persuasiveness  of  appeal  made  him  a  power  in  the 
Christian  pulpit.  Quite  a  number  of  his  sermons  were  requested  for  publication 
by  his  congregation ;  and  in  those  days  when  the  printing  of  a  sermon  meant  that 
it  was  something  of  rare  merit.  He  had  been  settled  in  South  Dedham  some  three 
years,  when  he  married,  Nov.  11,  1818,  Miss  Joanna  Strong,  the  youngest  daughter 
of  the  then  late  Rev.  Jonathan  Strong,  I).  D.,  of  Randolph,  Mass. 

In  1829,  being  urgently  called  to  important  services  in  connection  with  the 
American  Education  Society,  to  the  regret  of  his  people  and  with  personal  reluc- 
tance, he  resigned  his  pastorate  to  enter  upon  these  new  duties ;  and,  accord- 
ingly, was  dismissed  December  15, 1829,  and  i-emoved  to  Boston,  where  he  resided 


KEY.    WILLIAM    COGSWELL,    D.  T).  139 

for  some  years.  So  important  were  his  labors  and  so  successful  in  this  new  field 
of  effort,  that  January  -5,  18:52,  ho  was  chosen,  with  great  enthusiasm,  to  sue- 
eeetl  Dr.  Cornelius  to  the  secretaryship  of  the  society,  which  office  he  filled  with 
fidelity  and  acceptance  until  he  resigned  in  1841  to  accept  a  professorship  in 
Dartmouth  (.'ollege.  In  18HH.  Mr.  Cogswell  received  from  Williums  College  the 
degree  of  Doctor  (if  Divinity,  and  in  ISIiT  was  chosen  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Andover  Theologiccd  Seminary.  He  removed  to  Hanover,  N.  H..  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  lu*  professor  of  National  Kducation  and  History  in  Dartmouth 
College.  This  position  he  resigned  in  1844  to  accept  the  presidency  and  profes- 
sorship of  Christian  Theology  in  the  Gilmanton  Theological  Seminary. 

Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell  for  many  years  had  been  engaged  in  editorial  work,  and 
was  much  interested  in  historical  and  genealogical  researches.  In  184(5  he  retired 
from  his  connection  with  the  seminary,  about  to  be  discontinued,  and  gave  him- 
self exclusively  to  literary  pursuits,  except  that  he  usually  preached  on  the  Sab- 
bath. In  the  few  remaining  years  of  his  life  he  performed  a  viust  amount  of  lit- 
erary labor,  and  became  known  very  widely,  and  was  honored  with  a  membership 
in  nearly  all  the  historical  societies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 

Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell  })ublished  several  works,  viz.  :  a  Catechism  on  the  Doc- 
trines and  Duties  of  Religion  ;  a  Manual  of  Theology  and  Devotions;  the  Theo- 
logical Class  Book  ;  the  Christian  Philanthropist ;  and  Letters  to  Young  Men 
Preparing  for  the  Christian  Ministry.  All  these  works  passed  through  several  edi- 
tions. His  published  editorial  works  were:  Four  vols,  of  the  American  Quarterly 
Kegister,  1 8)57-1 841  ;  New  Hampshire  Repository,  2  vols. ;  the  New  England 
Historical  and  Grenealogical  Register,  vol.  I.;  New  Hampshire  Historical  Collec- 
tions, vol.  VI.     He  published,  also,  various  miscellaneous  writings. 

RcA'.  Dr.  Williimi  and  Joanna  (Strong)  Cogswell  had  four  children. 

The  eldest,  a  daughter,  died  in  infancy. 

William  Strong  Cogswell  was  born  in  South  Dedham,  April  11,  1828,  and 
died  April  G,  1848,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  He  was  a  young  man  of  rare 
ability  and  brilliant  promise.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the 
senior  class  in  Dartmouth  College. 

Mary  Joanna  Cogswell  was  born  June  G,  18;J2,  in  Boston,  Mass.  She  grad- 
uated at  Gilmanton  Academy  in  1851  ;  married,  September  20,  1858,  Rev. 
E.  0.  Jameson,  who  is  now  (1882)  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ,  in 
Medway,  Mass. 

Caroline  Strong  Cogswell,  the  youngest  child  of  Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell,  was  born 
June  3,  1840,  in  Boston,  Ma.ss.  She  was  educated  at  Gilmanton  Academy  and 
Holyoke  Female  Seminary,  and  has  been  a  successful  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 

Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell,  at  length,  under  the  taxing  pressure  of  a  busy  editorial 
service,  and  crushed  by  the  great  loss  of  his  only  and  very  promising  son,  found 
his  health  giving  way,  his  usual  vigor  forsaking  him,  and  it  became  only  too  evi- 
dent that  the  end  of  his  earthly  life  was  approaching.  He  continued,  however, 
to  accomplish  more  or  less  literary  work,  even  up  to  the  last  few  days  before  his 
death,  which  occurred  April  18,  1850.  The  funeral  service  was  on  the  following 
Sabbath,  conducted  by  Rev.  Daniel  Lancaster,  who  preached  a  memorial  discourse 
which  was  subsetjuently  published. 

Rev.  Dr.  Cogswell's  life  was  eminently  l>usy,  laborious,  self-sacrificing,  and 
honored.  His  earthly  work  was  faithfully  and  nobly  done  ;  his  death  triumphant, 
and  heavenly  reward  sure. 


JEREMIAH  W.  WHITE,  ESQ. 


BY    HON.    JOHN    II.    C400DALE. 


On  the  head-waters  of  Suncook  river,  in  the  central  region  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, is  the  town  of  Pittsfield.  It  is  limited  in  extent,  undulating  in  surface, 
rich  in  the  quality  of  its  soil.  Its  earliest  settlers  were  sturdy  farmers,  men 
and  women  who  from  infancy  had  been  accustomed  to  the  hardships  and  priva- 
tions of  pioneer  life. 

Among  these  settlers  was  Josiah  White,  who,  with  his  wife  of  Scottish  origin, 
in  the  spring  of  1775  took  up  his  abode  in  the  outskirts  of  an  unbroken  forest. 
Years  of  hard  labor  followed,  which  at  length  brought  to  him  and  his  family  the 
comforts  of  a  rural  home.  Of  his  sons,  Jeremiah  White,  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  succeeded  to  the  homestead.  He  was  born  March  4, 
1775,  and,  passing  his  life  amid  the  scenes  of  his  earlier  days,  died  December  5, 
1848.  He  is  still  remembered  by  the  older  residents  of  Pittsfield  as  a  citizen 
who  was  useful,  influential,  and  respected.  Of  great  personal  activity  and  tact 
in  business,  genial  and  generous,  an  enterprising  farmer  of  the  old  school,  a  safe 
and  sagacious  adviser,  his  departure  left  a  place  difficult  to  fill  in  the  business 
affairs  of  the  vicinity. 

Jeremiah  Wilson  White  was  born  in  Pittsfield,  Ssptember  16,  1821. 
The  active  habits  and  pure  atmosphere  of  his  early  rural  life  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  sound  physical  constitution.  His  opi)ortunities  for  education  during  child- 
hood were  limited  to  a  few  months  at  a  distant  district  school.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  entered  the  Pittsfield  academy,  under  the  instruction  of  James  F.  Joy, 
a  graduate  of  Dartmouth,  and  in  later  years  well  known  as  president  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad.  Pittsfield  village  had  a  thrifty  and  vigorous  popula- 
tion, and  among  her  ambitious  and  talented  young  men  were  several  who  have 
since  been  conspicuous  in  public  life.  ( )ne  became  United  States  senator  ;  three, 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  in  their  respective  states  ;  and  one,  founder  of  the 
system  of  public  instruction  now  in  successful  operation  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
Remaining  at  the  academy  two  and  a  half  years,  Mr.  White,  then  in  his  seven- 
teenth year,  decided  to  prepare  himself  for  mercantile  and  active  business  life. 
Adopting  the  plan  which  ajtpeared  most  feasible,  he  went  to  Boston,  and  entered 
upon  an  apprenticeship  in  a  drug-store.  Forty  years  ago  a  mercantile  appren- 
ticeship in  that  city  was  not  a  sinecure  position.  But  the  young  man  was  not 
averse  to  toil,  and  by  assiduous  and  systematic  attention  to  his  duties  was  pre- 
paring the  way  for  future  success.  Added  to  his  other  duties  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine  in  all  its  branches,  and  continued  it  for  several  years  after,  until 
he  was  qualified  for,  and,  if  occasion  had  required,  could  have  entered  upon, 
professional  service. 

Finishing  his  engagement  at  Boston,  he  engaged  as  clerk  to  Luther  Angier, 
postnuister  and  druggist  at  Medford,  Mass.,  with  the  agreement  that  with  proper 
notice  he  could  leave  to  engage  in  business  for  himself.  Early  in  the  summer  of 
1845,  Mr.  White  believed  that  that  time  had   arrived.     He  had  never  visited 


JEKEMIAH    W.    WHITE,    ESQ.  141 

Nashua,  but  had  heard  of  its  reputation  as  a  growing  manufacturing  town.  A 
few  hours'  inspection  settled  the  question,  and  before  leaving  he  hired  the  store 
which  he  afterwards  occupied  for  nearly  thirty  years. 

Mr.  White,  in  engaging  in  trade  for  himself  in  Nashua,  was  aware  that  a 
young  man  and  a  stranger  must  encounter  severe  difficulties  in  entering  upon 
mercantile  life.  Many  before  him  had  succumbed  to  the  obstacles  which  he  was 
now  to  encounter.  He  did  not  hesitate.  Laying  out  his  plan  of  business,  he 
examined  into  the  most  minute  details  of  its  management.  He  wtis  never  idle. 
No  man  was  more  thorough  and  painstaking  in  the  discharge  of  obligations  to 
his  customers.  His  labors  often  extended  far  into  the  night.  In  fact,  he  lived 
in  labor,  and  thought  no  plan  complete  till  its  execution  was  secured.  With 
these  habits  added  to  sound  l)usiness  judgment  and  foresight  and  a  rare  knowl- 
edge of  mtn,  the  rectrd  of  the  business  life  of  Mr.  White  has  been  an  uninter- 
rupted success ;  and  it  is  in  this  department  of  consistent  and  persistent  effort 
that  his  example  is  worthy  of  imitation. 

In  many  of  the  business  enterprises  of  Nashua,  Mr.  White  has  taken  an  ac- 
tive, and  in  some  of  them  a  prominent,  part.  Engaging  in  the  transportation 
and  sale  of  coal  on  his  arrival,  he  has  always  been  the  leading  dealer  in  the  trade. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  originated  the  project  of,  and  gave  his  attention  to, 
the  construction  of  the  large  block  of  stores  on  Main  street,  known  as  the 
••  Merchants'  Exchange,"  retaining  for  himself  and  son  the  corner  store,  which 
he  still  occupies.  Early  in  1875  he  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  new 
national  bank,  and  in  the  April  following  obtained  a  charter.  The  people  of 
Nashua  and  vicinity  believing  in  his  financial  ability  immediately  .subscribed  for 
the  .stock  and  elected  him  president,  a  position  he  continues  to  hold  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  stockholders,  and  the  advantage  of  the  institution. 

In  addition  to  the  presidency  of  the  Second  National  Bank,  Mr.  White  is 
now  recognized  by  the  public  as  a  sagacious  and  influential  railroad  manager. 
Since  1876  he  has  been  prominently  connected  with  the  affairs  of  the  Nashua 
tt  Lowell  Railroad  as  a  director  and  large  stockholder.  For  many  years  this 
road  had  been  connected  with  and  used  by  the  Boston  &  Lowell  Railroad  cor- 
poration, and,  as  Mr.  White  clearly  saw,  on  terms  greatly  disadvantageous  to  the 
stockholders  of  the  Nashua  &  Lowell  company.  The  stock  had  gradually  de- 
clined much  below  par.  To  resist  so  great  and  powerful  a  corporation  required 
pluck  and  energy.  To  be  successful  against  such  odds  demanded  a  leader  daring, 
prompt,  aggressive.  Mr.  White  was  the  man  for  the  emergency.  How  well  his 
measures  succeeded  is  realized  not  only  by  every  stockholder,  but  in  all  railroad 
circles  throughout  New  England. 

In  the  transaction  of  business,  Mr.  White  is  not  only  methodical  but  positive. 
He  reaches  his  conclusions  quickly  and  acts  upon  them  with  the  utmost  direct- 
ness. Having  decided  upon  a  measure  he  engages  in  it  with  all  his  might,  bend- 
ing all  his  efforts  to  make  sure  of  the  desired  end.  Selecting  his  agents,  he 
accomplishes  the  whole  work  while  many  Avould  be  halting  to  determine  whether 
the  project  was  feasible.  A  man  of  so  pronounced  opinions  and  prompt  action 
naturally  makes  some  enemies  ;  but  he  has  no  opponents  who  do  not  accord  to 
bim  the  credit  of  an  open  and  honorable  warfare.  In  a  word,  he  is  essentially  a 
business  man  in  the  full  sen.se  of  that  term.  Not  only  in  occupation,  hut  in 
taste  and  aptitude,  he  is  a  representative  of  that  class  of  American  citizens  who 
have  won  a  world-wide  reputation  for  practical  sagacity,  enterpri.se,  and  thrift. 

Mr.  White  is  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a  party  politician.  Of  Whig  antece- 
dents, his  first  vote  was  cast  for  Henry  Clay,  in  1844,  for  president.  Before 
leaving  his  native  town  his  liberal  tendencies  had  been  quickened  by  witnessing 
the  unwarranted  arrest,  in  the  pulpit,  of  Rev.  George  Storrs,  who  was  about  to 
deliver  the  first  anti-slavery  lecture  in  Pittsfield.     The  event  justly  occasioned  an 


142  JEREMIAH    W.    WHITE,    ESQ. 

unusual  excitement,  and  was  the  beginning  of  tliat  agitation  which  reached  every 
town  and  hamlet  in  the  Union. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  Mr.  White  has  supported  it 
in  all  national  issues ;  but  is  one  of  the  independent  thinkers  who  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  exercise  "the  divine  right  of  bolting"  when  unfit  men  are  put  in 
nomination. 

In  the  winter  of  1861,  Mr.  White  and  his  family  left  on  a  southern  trip,  and 
reached  Charleston,  S.  C,  the  last  of  February,  not  long  after  the  United  States 
troops  under  Maj.  Anderson  were  shut  up  in  Fort  Sumter  by  the  rebel  forces. 
Mr.  White  had  letters  of  introduction  to  several  citizens  of  the  city  high  in  au- 
thority, who  received  him  kindly,  and,  learning  that  he  was  a  business  man  and 
not  a  politician,  were  anxious  to  learn  from  him  the  state  of  feeling  among  the 
business  men  and  the  middle  class  of  citizens  at  the  North.  While  the  state- 
ments of  Mr.  White  were  far  from  gratifying,  they  continued  their  friendly  rela- 
tions. Previously  he  had  written  to  his  friend,  Capt.  John  G.  Foster,  second  in 
command  at  Fort  Sumter,  of  his  intended  tarry  at  Charleston.  He  was  now 
desirous  of  an  interview  with  him.  Applying  to  the  Confederate  authorities  for 
a  pass  to  Fort  Sumter,  it  was  granted  him,  —  a  privilege  not  allowed  to  any 
other  civilian  during  the  siege. 

On  the  following  day,  March  5,  he  went  on  the  steamer  Clinch  to  Fort  John- 
son, to  which  point  Maj.  Anderson  was  allowed  to  send  his  boat  under  a  flag  of 
truce  for  the  daily  mail.  Here  a  new  obstacle  was  encountered,  for  the  boat  was 
forbidden  by  Maj.  Anderson  to  bring  any  person  to  the  fort.  But,  with  the 
restriction  that  he  should  remain  outside  with  the  boat  till  Captain  Foster  could 
be  notified,  he  was  permitted  to  go.  The  interview  was  a  great  surprise  as  well 
as  gratification. 

Reaching  Washington  before  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  and  the 
beginning  of  actual  hostilities,  Mr.  White  was  taken  to  the  war  department  and 
interviewed  by  Gen.  Scott  as  to  the  determination  and  strength  of  the  Confederate 
force  at  Charleston.  Mr.  White  thought  it  would  require  a  force  of  ten 
thousand  men  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter,  and  said  so.  Gen.  Scott  laughed  heartily, 
and  told  him  that  two  thousand  men  would  be  ample  for  the  purpose.  In  com- 
mon with  the  most  of  the  leading  men  at  the  capital,  Gen.  Scott  underestimated 
the  pluck  and  strength  of  the  rebels.  Soon  after,  when  Jay  Cooke  was  appointed 
government  agent  to  negotiate  the  war  loans,  Mr.  White  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  agent  for  Nashua  and  and  vicinity. 

In  1846,  the  year  after  coming  to  Nashua,  Mr.  White  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Caroline  G.  Merrill,  oldest  daughter  of  Caleb  Merrill,  Esq.,  of  his 
native  town.  The  marriage  was  a  fortunate  and  happy  one.  The  young  wife 
was  endowed  with  scholarly  and  refined  attainments,  qualifying  her  for  the 
enjoyment  of  social  and  domestic  life.  Added  to  this,  she  possessed  a  sound  and 
discriminating  judgment  on  which  her  husband  could  safely  rely.  No  transaction 
of  any  magnitude  was  entered  upon  without  securing  her  approval.  Many  of 
his  best  and  most  sagacious  moves  in  business  were  made  at  her  suggestion.  Of 
their  two  children,  the  eldest,  Caroline  Wilson,  died  in  infancy.  The  son,  James 
Wilson  White,  born  June  10,  1849.  fell  a  victim  to  the  prevailing  disease  of 
this  climate,  and  died  in  Florida,  January  27,  1876.  Mrs.  White,  having  sur- 
vived her  children,  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  in  1880.  Her  memory  is 
cherished  by  many  who  knew  her  worth. 

In  April,  1881,  Mr.  White  was  married  the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Ann  M. 
Prichard,  of  Bradford,  Vt.,  an  educated  and  accomplished  lady  and  the  sister  of 
his  first  wife.  His  residence,  at  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  Cottage  streets,  com- 
bines the  elements  of  modesty,  taste,  and  comfort,  and  is  the  abode  of  a  happy 
home  circle. 


HON.  EDWARD  ASHTON  ROLLINS. 


BY    PROF.    E.    D.    SANBORN. 


Thf  early  settlers  of  New  Hampshire  were  of  pure  English  origin.  _  They 
possessed  that  "large,  roundabout  coxumon  sense"  which  John  Locke  ascribes  to 
the  Encrlish  people.  A  few  leading  families  planted  the  first  colonies,  founded 
the  state,  and  ruled  it  for  more  than  a  century.  The  Rollins  family  held  a 
prominent  place  among  the  settlers  of  southern  New  Hampshire.  James  Kollms, 
the  ancestor  of  most  of  the  men  who  have  borne  tliat  name  in  the  state,  came  to 
this  country  as  early  as  1032,  and  finally  settled  in  Dover.  ,     .     „     , 

The  name  Kollins,  or  Rawlings,  is  very  ancient  and  honorable  in  England. 
Its  ori-in  is  variously  explained  'by  anti.piarians,  but  it  can  very  naturally  be 
traced  to  Hollo,  who  con.iuered  Ncirmandy  and  made  it  a  kingdom,  A.  !>■  S^»l-- 
William  the  Conipieror  was  the  seventh  in  descent  from  the  brave  hero  of  fecan- 
dinavia  The  descendants  of  Hollo  followed  in  the  train  of  the  Conqueror,  and 
were  afterwards  found  in  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom.  All  the  different 
families  had  n-arly  the  same  coat  of  arms,  each  indicative  of  their  martial  origin. 
The  escutcheon  i's  a  shield  with  three  swords  in  the  center,  and  above  it  a 
human  arm  holding  a  fourth.  The  history  of  the  race  reveals  their  licroism, 
ener.>-y,  and  perseverance.  The  name  we  have  chosen  to  illustrate  re})resents  a 
geniun'e  scion  of  tlie  old  tree  which  for  nine  hundred  years  has  drawn  its  vitality 
from  the  Scandinavian  stock.  Having  said  enougli  to  show  that  Rollins  is  com- 
posed of  the  Northman  name  "  Hollo,"  and  the  Saxon  "ing,  '  meaning  child  or 
descendant,  we  will  speak  briefly  of  the  early  life  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Edward  Ashton  Rollins  was  born  in  Wakefield,  December  8, 1828.  At 
the  a<^e  of  s-ven,  his  father,  Hon.  Daniel  (r.  Rollins,  removed  to  Great  Falls,  a 
vilhuTc  of  Somm-sworth,  and  during  much  of  his  life  was  in  public  office.  He 
was  repeatedly  elected  to  the  le-islature  of  New  Hampshire,  was  for  many  years 
ind..v  of  i)ro))ate  for  Strafford  county,  till  he  reached  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
which,  bv  law,  terminated  that  office;  he  was  also,  for  many  years,  president  of 
the  Great  Falls  ct  Gonway  Railroad  Company.  In  all  his  official  relations  he 
aciuittcd  himself  with  unsullied  integrity.  His  son,  Kdward  Ashton,  was, 
therefore,  trained  to  know  the  relations  and  duties  of  a  business  man.  His 
fathers  example  was  his  pole  star.  With  his  eye  fixed  on  that,  and  with  the 
inherited  virtues  of  industry,  energy,  and  prudence,  he  could  scarcely  go  astray. 
He  studied  both  l)ooks  and  men.  The  common  school  promoted  his  native  love 
of  learning,  and  occupied  his  youthful  days.  For  a  higher  class  of  studies,  he 
attended  the  academies  of  Rochester  and  Gilmanton.  In  1847,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College.  He  immediately  received  the  place  for 
which  he  was  fitted  bv  nature  and  culture.  His  character  for  sobriety,  earnest- 
ness, and  devotion  to  dutv  was  already  formed,  and,  as  the  poet  hath  it,  "charac- 
ter is  destiny."  The  best  men  in  tiu>  class  sought  him  as  a  companion.  His 
teachers  .saw  and  aided  his  love  of  learning.  None  made  greater  progress ;  none 
were  more  highly  esteemed;  none  ranked    above   him.     Those    kindred  virtues. 


144  HON^.    EDWARD    ASIITON    ROLLINS. 

industry,  economy,  integrity,  and  devotion,  always  attract  watchful  eyes  and  win 
loving  hearts.  The  path  of  duty  and  honor  often  lies  hid  even  to  the  wise  and 
prudent.  Cromwell  said,  in  the  height  of  his  fame,  "  No  man  often  advanceth 
higher  than  he  who  knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth."  The  threads  that  run 
through  the  weh  of  our  life  are  carried  by  shuttles  driven  by  an  invisible  but 
unerring  hand.  A  little  incident  in  the  college  life  of  Mr.  Rollins  illustrates 
this  assertion.  Walking  one  day  with  some  college  friends,  he  was  met  by 
President  Lord,  who,  beckoning  him  to  him,  desired  him  to  call  at  his  study  at 
a  particular  hour.  This  was  the  good  doctor's  usual  method  in  summoning 
delinquents  for  discipline.  The  companions  of  Mr.  Rollins  rallied  him  upon  his 
approaching  interview ;  but  hear  the  result.  With  no  little  anxiety,  he  met 
the  president  at  the  hour  named,  who  said  to  him:  "I  have  received  a  request 
from  a  distinguished  gentleman  in  Baltimore,  desiring  me  to  send  to  him  a  young 
gentleman  of  the  first  rank  in  scholarship  and  character  to  be  the  private  tutor 
of  his  sons.  I  have  concluded  to  offer  the  place  to  you."  After  consultation 
with  father  and  mother,  at  home,  he  decided  to  go.  He  found  a  delightful  home, 
and  formed  friendships  which  have  lasted  till  this  day,  and  essentially  modified 
his  whole  public  life  and  determined  his  occupations.  In  his  friendships,  he 
follows  Shakespeare's  advice :  — 

"  The  friends  thou  hast,  iinil  tlieii-  adiiptiuu  tried, 
(iraiiple  tlieiii  to  thy  soul  with  liooks  of  steel." 

Classmates,  teachers,  preachers,  and  neighbors  are  remembered  and  reverenced 
according  to  their  worth.  They  not  only  enjoy  his  hospitality,  but,  if  over- 
taken by  want  or  misfortune,  share  his  purse.  Old  and  faithful  servants,  too, 
are  not  forgotten. 

Mr.  Rollins  enjoys  society;  and  in  every  social  circle  he  gives  more  than  he 
takes.  He  is  the  life  of  company ;  conversation  never  flags  when  he  is  present. 
His  humor  plays  like  sunshine  over  the  surface  of  society.  If  any  one  fails  to 
make  his  contribution  to  the  wants  of  the  occasion,  he  is  roused  to  duty  by  a 
merry  sally  of  humor  from  Mr.  Rollins ;  and  he  is  more  likely  to  make  himself 
than  his  neighbors  the  subject  of  his  wit  or  satire.  Like  Charles  Lamb,  he 
holds  the  wires  while  others  draw  the  sparks,  which  always  move  but  never 
shock  their  feelings.  Nobody  is  wounded,  but  all  are  animated.  He  can  deliver 
an  appropriate  speech  at  any  meeting  in  church  or  state,  after  dinner  or  after  a 
session.  The  young  and  the  old  seek  his  company.  Some  of  his  warmest  friends 
have  been  very  aged  men.  The  venerable  Horace  Binney  lived  to  be  ninety-six 
years  of  age,  and  he  corresponded  with  Mr.  Rollins  till  the  last  days  of  his  long 
and  useful  life.  Some  of  his  letters  deserve  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,  to 
be  read  and  enjoyed  by  all  lovers  of  truth,  virtue,  and  religion.  Rev.  Dr.  Barnes, 
also,  kept  up  a  neighborly  intercourse  with  Mr.  Rollins,  by  calls  and  letters,  as 
long  as  he  lived.  Mr.  Rollins's  religious  life  was  nourished  by  the  notes  and  dis- 
courses of  Albert  Barnes,  whom  he  loved  as  a  spiritual  father.  P]very  Christmas 
was  sure  to  bring  to  the  good  doctor  a  reminder  of  this  relation. 

To  perpetuate  home  affections  and  keep  alive  a  love  of  New  England  insti- 
tutions, in  the  winter  of  1881,  Mr.  Rollins,  with  a  few  friends,  formed  a  New 
England  society  in  l^hiladelphia.  Their  first  me(>ting  was  a  distinguished  suc- 
cess. The  proceedings  were  published  in  pamphk^t  form  and  were  widely  read. 
The  speeches  were  wise  and  witty;  that  of  Mr.  Rollins,  the  first  president,  was 
full  of  pertinent  allusions  and  ))atriotic  sentiments.  It  was  received  with  enthu- 
siastic ap])lause.  His  remarks,  in  the  introduction  of  other  orators,  were  beauti- 
fully adapted  to  the  men  and  the  occasion. 


HON.    EDWARD    ASIITOX    ROLLINS.  145 

The  extent  ami  variety  of  Mr.  Rollins's  business  relations  make  it  impossi- 
ble to  characterize  them  with  brevity.  Integrity  and  fair  dealing  have  marked 
his  whole  career  as  lawyer,  commissioner,  })anker,  and  railroad  manager.  His 
motto  is,  "  Live  and  let  live."'  The  pecuniary  interests  of  friend,  neighbor,  client, 
trader,  relative,  or  stranger  are  never  prejudiced  by  partisan  opinions.  An  oppo- 
nent and  friend  stand,  in  business  relations,  on  the  same  foundations.  His  large 
experience  in  money  matters  creates  the  ini])ression  that  he  is  a  safe  adviser  in 
the  purchase  of  stocks  ;  he  is,  therefore,  often  importuned  to  decide  for  others 
questions  of  investment.  Where  men  are  known  to  be  honest  and  faithful  in 
handling    money,    even   strangers    ask   no   other    security    for   their    property. 

Such  is  the  law  of  association  that  binds  together  honest  and  honorable  busi- 
ness men.  Large  pecuniary  enterprises  prosper  in  their  hands,  because  they 
fear  God  and  love  justice  and  truth.  Of  every  such  man  it  is  .said,  "  Whatsoever 
he  doeth  shall  prosper."      80  God  ordains. 

This  title,  ''  ///  ojfice,"  covers  nearly  the  whole  })rofessional  life  of  Mr.  Rollins. 
After  six  years  of  successful  practice  of  the  law,  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
of  New  Hampshire  from  Somersworth.  He  held  this  relation  for  three  years ; 
during  the  last  two,  1861  and  18(32,  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house.  It 
was  a  period  of  great  excitement,  the  very  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  Though 
young  and  inexperienced,  he  acquitted  himself  with  the  highest  credit  to  himself 
and  honor  to  the  state.  At  the  close  of  this  responsible  and  difficult  work,  he 
was  appointed,  by  President  Lincoln,  cashier  of  the  bureau  of  internal  reve- 
nue ;  and  the  next  year,  deputy  commissioner  of  the  same  department.  In 
1805  he  was  made  commissioner  of  internal  revenue,  one  of  the  most  respon- 
sible positions  that  any  citizen  of  our  country  has  ever  been  called  to  fill.  The 
office  was  new,  important,  and  burdensome.  No  finite  mind  could  comprehend  and 
control  at  once  its  multitudinous  relations.  Its  net-work  covered  the  whole  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States.  The  property  of  the  entire  country  was  subject  to 
its  inspection  and  taxation.  More  than  a  million  of  dollars,  every  day,  were  re- 
ceived into  the  treasury  from  six  thousand  agents,  for  whose  official  integrity 
the  head  of  the  department  was  responsible.  In  new  cases,  the  commissioner 
was  often  obliged  to  act  as  law-maker,  judge,  and  executive.  The  cases  admitted 
of  no  delay.  The  safety  of  the  state  re((uired  prompt  decisions.  The.se  sprung 
up  as  intuitions.  In  his  official  report,  made  to  congress  in  November,  1865, 
the  commissioner  says:  "  When  it  is  recollected  that  the  present  generation  only 
know  by  tradition  or  obsolete  statutes  that  taxes  have  ever  been  imposed  in  this 
country  on  articles  of  thi'ir  own  manufacture,  and  the  objects  of  internal  traffic, 
or  upon  the  various  crafts  and  professions  in  which  they  were  employed  ;  and 
when,  too,  it  is  considered  that  the  revenue  collected  for  a  single  year  ending 
June  ;]().  1865,  anumnts  to  a  sum  nearly  or  quite  e((ual  to  all  the  receipts  of  this 
government,  from  whatever  sources,  from  its  organization  to  the  year  1812  ;  and 
when  it  is  further  considered  that  this  amount  was  contributed  at  a  time  when 
the  commercial  marine  of  the  country  had  been  nearly  destroyed  and  more  than 
a  million  of  men  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  productive  pursuits  of  life, —  we 
may  not  only  be  justly  proud  that  the  material  strength  of  the  country  has  been 
fully  equal  to  the  burden,  but  that  it  has  been  borne  so  (|uietly  and  so  willingly." 
This  office  was  administered  wi.sely  and  well,  by  Mr.  Rollins,  till  March  8,  1861), 
when  President  (Jrant  assumed  the  reins  of  government.  Failing  health  then 
admonished  him  to  retire  from  the  distracting  cares  of  the  office  of  commissioner. 
At  the  time  of  its  resignation,  as  many  of  his  subordinate  'ifficials  as  could  come 
together  adopted  resolutions  of  resjiect  and  confidence  in  honor  of  their  head. 
The  first  resolution  expresses  the  o])ini(ms  of  the  whole  country,  including  cabi- 
net officers  and  senators,  as  well  as  their  own.     It  is  thus  written  :  — 


146  HON.    EDWARD    ASHTON    ROLLINS. 

"  Resohvd,  that  the  integrity,  fidelity,  abiUty.  and  untiring  devotion  to  the 
duties  of  his  office  wliich  Mr.  Rollins  has  exhibited,  have  inspired  in  us  feel- 
ings of  profound  respect  for  his  sterling  qualities  as  a  man  and  an  officer;  and 
that  we  especially  admire  the  genial  disposition  which  he  has  uniformly  mani- 
fested toward  us,  amid  all  the  cares  and  perplexities  of  a  difficult  and  a  burden- 
some office,  held,  much  of  the  time,  under  peculiarly  trying  circumstances." 

The  remaining  resolutions  are  cumulative  of  these  expressions  of  confidence 
and  esteem.     No  testimony  could  be  more  honorable  to  a  well  spent  official  life. 

The  religious  life  of  Mr.  Rollins,  from  boyhood  to  age,  has  been  as  strongly 
marked  as  his  official  career.  He  believes  in  doing,  not  in  seeming ;  in  practice, 
not  in  profession.  He  can  speak  as  well  as  work  for  the  truth.  When  the  pastor 
needs  help,  he  addresses  the  people.  When  the  poor  of  the  church  or  congrega^ 
tion  need  aid,  he  heads  and  carries  the  subscription  paper.  He  has  never  lived 
in  a  place  where  he  has  not  taught  a  Bible  class;  and  worthy  young  men  who 
have  learned  in  his  classes  have  often  received  promotion  in  business  through 
his  influence.  He  is  always  present  at  the  stated  meetings  of  the  church. 
"  Punctuality,"  says  the  old  maxim,  "is  the  essence  of  virtue."  Mr.  Rollins 
believed  in  the  importance  of  punctuality  ;  therefore  he  was  never  missed  from 
the  place  of  duty.  In  college  he  was  never  absent  or  unprepared ;  in  office,  in 
the  bank,  in  public  assemblies,  the  hours  of  business  are  promptly  observed.  In 
church,  too,  the  times  and  places  of  worship  are  conscientiously  observed,  and 
if  a  delinquent  neighbor,  who  has  failed  to  be  present  when  church  affairs,  temr 
poral  or  spiritual,  were  discussed,  meets  him  on  a  subsequent  day,  he  is  care- 
fully questioned  with  regard  to  his  health  ! 

The  family  is  the  unit  of  the  state,  (xood  families  make  good  communities, 
good  cities,  and  good  nations.  A  single  good  family  is  a  light  shining  in  a  dark 
place.  The  history  of  the  world  is  the  united  histories  of  illustrious  families. 
The  history  of  the  church  is  the  history  of  holy  men.  The  Scriptures  record  the 
deeds  and  words  of  the  best  men  our  earth  has  known.  Eliminate  from  the 
Bible  the  actions  and  opinions  of  kings,  prophets,  and  apostles,  and  the  records 
of  our  race  become  unintelligible.  When  we  find  a  faultless  and  worthy  Chris- 
tian household,  we  do  well  to  present  it  to  the  public  for  contemplation  and  imita- 
tion. One  such  household  we  venture  to  describe.  Mr.  Rollins's  house  is 
beautiful  of  situation,  at  the  corner  of  Spruce  and  Fortieth  streets,  in  West 
Philadelphia.  Its  liberal  grounds,  numerous  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers  make  it 
very  attractive  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger.  When  once  introduced  to  the  interior, 
every  guest  who  has  any  music  in  his  soul  would  be  delighted  to  sing  "  Home, 
sweet  Home"  from  early  morn  to  dawy  eve.  Every  room  invites  you  to  repose ; 
every  picture  that  looks  upon  you  from  the  walls  bids  you  welcome.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  one  who  has  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  house  to  describe  it  fully 
without  encroaching  upon  th^  sacred  privacy  of  domestic  life.  This  house  was 
long  the  home  of  the  now  sainted  mother,  who  only  a  few  months  ago  was  bid- 
den to  go  up  higher,  and  left  the  husband  and  children  desolate.  The  house 
sjems  like  the  shrine  of  a  departed  divinity.  The  furniture  was  of  her  selection, 
the  walls  and  mantels  were  adorned  by  her  handiwork  ;  and  when  changes  or 
additions  are  now  made  to  the  internal  conveniences  of  the  home,  the  first  ques- 
tion asked  is,  "  What  would  mother  choose  if  she  could  speak  to  us?"  Her 
spirit  seems  still  to  hover  over  them. 

Sidney  Smith  said,  "  There  can  be  no  handsomer  furniture  than  books." 
Every  room,  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  house,  is  furnished  with  new  books. 
The  room  specially  devoted  to  library  uses  has  a  selection  of  l)ooks  in  every 
department  of  reading,  sufficient  for  the  instruction  and  pleasure  of  any  man  of 


HON.    EDWARD    ASHTON    ROLLINS.  147 

refined  taste  and  culture.  Amid  the  thousands  of  volumes  gathered,  the  most 
precious  of  them  all  to  the  family  and  their  friends  are  two  volumes  written  by 
Mrs.  Rollins  not  long  before  her  decease,  entitled  "  New  J^ngland  Bygones"  and 
''  Old-Time  Child  Life.'"  To  one  born  in  New  England  seventy  years  ago,  the 
pictures  of  New  England  scenes  are  inimitable ;  they  stir  the  blood  of  age  like  a 
trumpet.  These  books  are  the  creations  of  true  genius,  and  will  live  when  all 
the  contemporaries  of  this  gifted  woman  are  dead. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  reveal  the  attractions  of  this  delightful  home. 
Every  word  has  been  dictated  by  a  life-long  friendship.  The  sterling  qualities 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  constrained  me  to  portray  them,  and  the  half  has  not 
been  said.  When  the  elders  of  the  Jews  were  sent  to  Jesus  by  the  Roman  cen- 
turion to  intercede  for  his  sick  servant,  the  highest  commendation  they  could 
name  was  this:  "  For  he  loyeth  our  nation,  and  hath  built  us  a  synagogue.''  He 
was  patriotic  and  religious;  he  feared  (rod  and  loved  his  neighbor.  So  higher 
test  of  moral  worth  can  be  named.  Let  all  public  men  be  judged  by  this  stand- 
ard ;  and  among  them  our  good  friend  whom  we  have  sketched,  we  doubt  not, 
will  hold  a  high  rank.  And  if  at  any  time  the  President  of  the  United  States 
should  be  seeking  for  a  man  for  financial  secretary  who  is  honest,  capable, 
and  experienced,  a  multitude  of  voters  would  cry  out,  —  Edward  Ashton  Rollins 
is  the  man  ! 


VIRGIL  C.  OILMAN. 


Virgil  Chase  Oilman  was  born  in  Unity,  Sullivan  county,  New  Hamp- 
shire, May  5,  1827,  and  was  the  third  of  a  family  of  eight  children  born  to 
Emerson  and  Delia  (Way)  Gilnian. 

Emerson  Gilman  was  the  oldest  son  and  the  first  of  twelve  children  born  to 
Stephen  and  Dorothy  ( Clough )  Gilman,  who  were  married  September  5,  1793. 
This  was  his  second  marriage,  he  having  married  Anna  Huntoon,  by  whom  he 
had  nine  children,  some  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Stephen  Gilman  was  a  native 
of  Kingston,  and  served  as  a  cavalry  officer  in  the  war  of  the  Kevolution.  He 
was  a  descendant  of  Moses  Gilman,  who  was  one  of  three  brothers,  —  Edward, 
John,  and  Moses, — ^  who  emigrated  from  Hingham,  England,  early  in  the  six- 
teenth century. 

In  1827,  it  was  said :  *  "  Edward  Oilman's  descendants  are  as  numerous  as  the 
sands  on  the  seashore.  ^  There  is  hardly  a  state  in  the  Union  where  they  may  not 
be  found.  The  family  have  been  in  civil  office  from  the  time  our  colony  became 
a  royal  province  to  the  present  time.  John  Gilman  was  one  of  the  first  coun- 
selors named  in  President  Cutts's  commission,  and  died  in  1708.  Col.  Peter 
Gilman  was  one  of  the  royal  counselors  in  1772.  Hon.  Nicholas  Gilman  was  coun- 
selor in  1777  and  1778.  Hon.  John  Gilman,  in  1787;  while  the  present  ven- 
erable John  Taylor  Gilman  was  fourteen  years,  eleven  in  succession,  our  highly 
respected  chief  magistrate.  His  brother,  Nicholas  Gilman,  was  a  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives  in  congress  eight  years,  and  in  the  national  senate  nine 
years.  Our  ecclesiastical  annals  have,  also,  Rev.  Nicholas  Gilman,  Harvard  Col- 
lege, 1724  ;  and  Pvev.  Tristram  Gilman,  Harvard  College,  1757,  both  respected 
clergymen  and  useful  men." 

These  words  are  quoted  in  substance  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  work.  "  If  he  had 
written  forty  years  later"  says  the  author  of  "  The  Gilman  Family  in  England  and 
America, "t  •'  he  would  have  found  the  family  still  more  numerous  and  many  addi- 
tions would  have  been  made  to  his  list  of  prominent  men  bearing  the  Gilman  name. 
The  family  of  Gilmans  is  not  one  furnishing  a  few  brilliant  exceptions  in  a 
long  list  of  commonplace  names.  Its  members  appear  generally  to  have  been 
remarkable  for  the  quiet  home  virtues,  and  rather  to  have  desired  to  be  good  citi- 
zens than  men  of  great  name.  To  an  eminent  degree  they  appear  to  have  ob- 
tiiined  the  esteem  and  respect  of  those  nearest  to  them,  for  sound  judgment  and 
sterling  traits  of  character." 

Emerson  Gilman  followed  the  trade  of  clothier  until  the  introduction  of  ma- 
cliinery  supplanted  the  hand  process,  when  he,  after  pursuing  the  business  of 
farmer  for  a  few  years,  removed  to  Lowell,  Mass.,  in  1887,  relying  upon  his 
strong  and  willing  hands  to  find  support  for  his  large  family  and  give  his  children 
the  advantages  of  education  which  that  city  signally  afibrded. 

♦History  of  Hingham,  Mass.,  by  Solomon  Lincoln.  Jr.     Farmer  &  Bro^vn,  1827. 
t  Arthur  Ciilman,  A.  M.    Joel  Munscll,  Albany,  1869. 


/y?^o{  y  (Q..  ^c/^^.ay7Ay 


VIRGIL    C.    OILMAN.  149 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  then  ten  years  old.  and  made  fair  progress 
through  the  several  grades  to  the  liigli  school,  with  which  his  school-days  ended. 
He  removed  to  Nashua  in  184;>.  but  it  was  not  until  1S51  tluit  he  entered  busi- 
ness on  his  own  behalf,  at  which  time  he  Ijecame  associated  with  Messrs.  Gage 
and  Murray  for  the  manufacture  of  printers'  cards  of  all  the  various  kinds,  also 
fancy-colored,  embossed,  and  marble  papers,  a  new  business  in  this  country  at 
that  time,  which  business  he  followed  successfully  for  twenty-one  years,  and  until 
his  close  and  unremitting  application  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  relinquish  it 
for  a  more  active  out-door  employment.  Following  a  natural  love  for  rural  afi'airs, 
he  was  not  long  in  possessing  himself  of  a  hundred-acres  farm  in  the  south  part 
of  the  city,  upon  the  Lowell  road,  which  he  greatly  improved,  and  indulged  to 
some  extent  in  the  usually  expensive  luxury  of  breeding  Jersey  cattle,  trotting- 
horses,  and  Plymouth  Kock  fowls.  He  claims  to  have  bred  the  finest  and  fastest 
gaited  horse  ever  raised  in  New  Ham])shire.  Meantime,  having  realized  the 
object  sought,  greatly  improved  health,  and  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  Nashua 
Savings  Bank  becoming  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  K.  Spalding,  in  1S7G, 
he  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  still  continues  in  this  responsible  position, 
with  nearly  two  and  a  half  millions  of  deposits  committed  to  his  watchful  care 
and  secure  investment. 

Never  coveting  office,  still  he  has  rarely  refused  to  perform  his  full  share  of 
duty  in  the  various  departments  of  labor  and  responsibility  incident  to  city  aifairs, 
from  ward  clerk  to  the  mayor's  chair,  serving  also  as  assessor,  member  of  the 
board  of  education,  and  is  now  trustee  of  the  public  library,  also  its  secretary  and 
treasurer.  To  him  Dartmouth  College  is  indebted  for  the  Gilman  scholarship ; 
and  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Orphans'  Home  at  Franklin  finds  in  him  an 
interested  member.  He  is  identified  with  the  mechanical  industries  of  the  city, 
having  a  large  interest  in  the  Nashua  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  and  its  local 
director ;  also  an  owner  and  director  in  the  Underbill  Edge  Tool  Company,  and 
Amoskeag  Axe  Company;  also  a  director  in  the  Indian  Head  National  IJank. 

In  military  affairs  actively  he  is  unknown,  his  service  having  commenced  and 
ended  with  the  "Governor's  Horse-Guards,"  enlisting  as  private  in  Co.  B',  and  end- 
ing as  major  of  the  battalion.  His  interest,  however,  is  kept  alive  by  honorary 
membership  of  "City  Guards"  and  "Foster  Rifles."  of  his  adopted  city. 

His  strong  love  for  agricultural  affairs  led  him  to  take  an  interest  in  our  New 
Hampshire  Agricultural  Society,  of  whose  board  of  trustees  he  was  formerly  a 
member,  also  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  New  England  Agricultural  Society. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  1879,  serving  as  chairman  of  com- 
mittee on  banks  and  taking  a  deep  interest  in  the  work  of  that  session,  and  espe- 
cially zealous  in  opposition  to  the  taxation  of  church  pro])erty.  At  the  present 
time  he  is  the  Republican  senator  of  the  Nashua  district,  and  honored  by  the 
chairmanship  of  the  leading  committee  of  the  senate,  the  judiciary,  no  member 
of  the  legal  profession  holding  a  seat  in  that  body  at  this  time.  How  well  he 
discharged  the  duties  of  this  responsible  position  those  can  testify  who  had  busi- 
ness with  the  committee,  or  those  who  witnessed  his  unremitting  application  and 
conscientious  decisions. 

Denominationally  he  is  a  Congregationalist,  and  a  communicant  with  the  First 
church,  that  was  organized  in  1685.  An  interest  in  its  prosperity  has  induced 
him  to  serve  as  director  of  the  society  connected  therewith  many  years,  and  of 
which  he  is  now  president,  and  treasurer  of  the  Sabbath-school  connected.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  fills  many  positions  of  responsi- 
bility and  usefulness  which  bring  no  pecuniary  reward,  without  ostentation,  and 
no  foul  breath  tarnishes  his  fair  record. 


150  VIRGIL    O.    OILMAN. 

Our  state  has  among  its  many  honored  sons  few  whose  energy,  integrity,  and 
discretion  have  won  success  in  so  many  directions,  and  none  who  command  more 
universal  respect  among  all  classes.  In  business,  politics,  and  social  and  religious 
circles  he  has  been  and  is  a  leader,  whose  triumphs  shed  their  blessings  far  and 
wide.    Few  have  done  so  much  for  Nashua.     No  one  deserves  better  of  the  state. 

In  1850  he  married  Sarah  Louisa,  daughter  of  Gideon  Newcomb,  Esq.,  of 
Roxbury,  by  whom  he  had  two  children, —  Harriet  Louise,  who  married  Charles 
W.  Hoitt,  an  attorney-at-law  in  Nashua,  and  Alfred  Emerson,  who  did  not  attain 
his  second  birthday. 


WILLIAM   AMORY. 


William  Amokv  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  June  15,  1804,  and  is  the  son 
of  Thomas  C.  and  Ilannali  11.  ( Linzee)  Aiuory.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  four 
sons  and  four  daughters,  of  whom  three  only  —  two  sons  and  one  daughter — 
survive.  His  father,  a  merchant  of  Boston,  died  in  1812  ;  and  seven  years  later 
his  son,  then  but  fifteen  years  of  age,  entered  Harvard  University.  He  spent 
four  years  there,  and  soon  after  went  to  Kurope  to  complete  his  education.  He 
pursued  in  (Jermany  the  study  of  law  and  of  general  literature  for  u  year  and  a 
half  at  the  university  in  Gottingen,  and  for  nine  mouths  at  the  university  in 
Berlin.  He  occupied  the  subsecpient  two  years  and  a  half  in  travel,  and  returned 
to  Boston  in  July,  1830,  after  an  absence  of  five  years.  There  he  pursued  hia 
legal  studies  with  Franklin  Dexter  and  W.  H.  Gardiner,  and  in  1831  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  Suffolk  county,  without,  however,  any  intention  of  entering  upon 
legal  practice. 

In  that  year  he  was  chosen  treasurer  of  the  Jackson  Manufacturing  Company, 
at  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  began  business  as  a  manufacturer.  Without  experience, 
and  yet  with  a  mind  which  study  had  disciplined  and  knowledge  of  the  world  had 
made  keen,  with  r«'markable  energy  and  enterprise,  he  was  eminently  successful, 
and  the  Jackson  company  paid  large  and  sure  dividends  for  the  eleven  years  he 
continued  its  treasurer.  In  1837  he  became  the  treasurer  of  the  Amoskeag 
Manufacturing  Company,  an  office  which  included  at  that  time,  when  the  plan 
of  creating  a  city  upon  the  Merrimack  was  just  to  be  carried  out,  the  responsi- 
bility and  wisdom  oi'  a  general  manager  of  the  company's  interests,  as  well  as  the 
usual  financial  duties  of  a  treasurer.  He  held  that  office  from  then  till  October, 
187G  ;  was  treasurer  of  the  Stark  Mills,  with  the  exception  of  four  years  and  a 
half,  from  its  organization,  in  1839,  to  1876  ;  was  a  director  of  the  Manchester 
Mills,  and  its  successor,  the  Manchester  Print- Works,  from  the  start,  in  1839,  till 
1871  ;  and  has  been  a  director  of  the  Langdon  Mills  from  its  beginning,  in  1800, 
and  its  president  from  1874  to  1876.  When  Mr.  Amory  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion as  treasurer  of  the  Amoskeag  company,  the  following  complimentary  reso- 
lutions were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  stockholders  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  stockholders  of  this  corporation  have  heard  with  regret 
of  the  resignation  of  their  treasurer,  William  Amory,  Es(|. 

"  That  a  continuous  service  of  thirty-nine  years  demands  from  them  an 
expression  of  their  appreciation  of  his  eminent  success,  not  only  in  building  up 
an  unequaled  and  remunerative  manufacturing  establishment,  but  in  founding 
the  largest  and  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  the  state. 

"  For  both  these  results  they  tender  to  him  their  hearty  thanks,  and  desire  to 
place  this  testimonial  upon  the  records  of  the  company." 

In  seconding  the  motion  to  adopt  the  above  resolutions,  T.  Jeflerson  Coolidge, 
Esq.,  spoke  as  follows  :  — 


152  WILLIAM   AMOKY. 

"  The  best  witness  to  the  services  of  Mr.  Amory  as  treasurer  is  the  splendid 
condition  of  the  Amoskeag  company.  He  took  it  in  its  infancy,  when  it  was 
poor.  There  was  then  but  one  mill  of  about  eight  thousand  spindles.  He 
leaves  it,  after  forty  years  of  success,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand 
spindles,  and  more  than  two  millions  of  quick  capital.  You  have  received  in 
dividends,  for  forty -two  years,  an  average  of  eleven  per  cent  a  year ;  and,  if  to 
that  is  added  the  increase  of  the  quick  capital,  the  eom])any  Vas  earned  fifteen 
per  cent  per  annum,  without  taking  into  consideration  the  money  spent  on  the 
])lant.  To  put  it  in  another  light:  a  stockholder  of  one  share,  costing  one 
thousand  dollars,  if  he  allowed  com})ound  interest  at  the  rate  he  received  on  liis 
dividends,  would  find  that  his  share  liad  been  worth  to  liim  eighty  thousand 
dollars. 

"  The  mills  themselves  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  in  New  England,  and 
contain  more  than  twenty  acres  of  machinery  floor ;  and,  although  there  are  many 
mills  in  England  and  some  here  that  are  running  more  spindles,  yet  I  believe 
the  Amoskeag  is  the  largest  cotton-manufacturing  establishment  in  either  country 
])roducing  its"  goods  from  the  cotton  in  the  bale,  and  turning  them  out  actually 
finished  for  the  market. 

'•  1  have  said  enough  to  show  that  no  one  can  be  more  deserving  of  a  vote  of 
thanks  than  the  retiring  treasurer.  Let  us  hope  that  he  may  be  preserved  for 
many  years  to  aid  in  the  counsels  of  the  company,  and  to  assist  his  successor  in 
the  arduous  task  that  must  fall  to  any  man  who  takes  a  place  which  he  has 
filled  so  long,  so  ably,  and  so  successfully." 

Mr.  Amory  married,  in  January,  1888,  Miss  Anna  P.  G.  Sears,  daughter  of 
David  Sears,  an  eminent  merchant  of  Boston,  by  whom  he  has  had  six  children. 
of  whom  four  survive. 

Mr.  Amory  is  a  man  with  whom,  more  than  with  almost  any  one  else,  Man- 
chester is  closely  identified,  and  to  whose  accurate  foresight  and  comprehensive 
views  a  very  large  proportion  of  its  beauty  and  success  is  due.  To  him,  as  the 
manager  of  the  company  which  gave  it  its  first  impulses  in  life  and  has  ever  since 
assisted  its  growth,  it  owes  in  large  measure  its  wide  streets,  its  pleasant  squares, 
and  its  beautiful  cemetery.  He  has  pursued  a  liberal  policy,  and  deserves  the 
city's  gratitude.  As  the  treasurer  of  the  company,  he  has  met  with  eminent  suc- 
cess. A  man  of  perfect  honor  and  integrity,  cautious  and  prudent,  he  has  looked 
upon  the  funds  in  his  possession  as  his  only  in  trust,  to  be  managed  with  the 
utmost  care.  Herein  is  to  be  found  the  secret  of  his  success.  Few  men  stand 
better  than  he  in  the  business  world  of  his  native  city,  or  elsewhere.  A  gentle- 
man of  culture,  of  the  utmost  polish,  with  a  very  pleasing  appearance,  he  enjoys 
the  aff'ection  and  respect  of  many  personal  friends. 


^ 


JOHN   McDUFFEE. 


BY    REV.    ALONZO    H.    QUINT,  D.   D. 


To  men  of  their  own  energetic  stock,  who,  refusing  all  political  preferment, 
have  given  comprehensive  abilities,  sterling  integrity,  and  sagacious  industry  to 
the  development  of  business,  many  New  Hampshire  towns  owe  an  imperishable 
debt.     John  McDuffee's  record  is  in  the  prosperity  of  Kochester. 

The  name  itself  suggests  that  strong  Scotch-Irish  blood  which  endured  the 
siege  of  Londonderry,  in  which  were  Mr.  McDuifee's  ancestors,  John  McDuffee 
and  his  wife,  Martha,  honored  in  tradition.  John  and  Martha  McDuffee  had 
four  sons,  viz.,  Mansfield,  Archibald,  John,  and  Daniel.  Mansfield  went  to 
London,  England;  the  other  three  came,  with  their  parents,  to  America  in  the 
emigration  which  gave  Xew  Hampshire  the  powerful  stock  of  Derry  and  London- 
derry. John,  the  father  of  these  sons,  settled  in  Kochester  in  1729,  on  land  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Cochecho  river,  adjoining  Gonic  lower  falls,  —  the  farm  of 
eighty-five  acres  remaining  without  break  in  the  family,  and  now  owned  by  the 
subject  of  this  article.  The  Rochester  settler  was,  as  just  stated,  the  father  of 
Daniel  McDuff"ee,  and  also  of  Col.  John  McDuffee,  —  a  gallant  oflicer  in  the  old 
French  and  Revolutionary  Avars,  lieutenant-colonel  in  Col.  Poors  regiment, — 
who,  never  marrying,  adopted  his  brother  Daniel's  son  John,  and  eventually  made 
him  his  heir.  John,  the  colonel's  heir,  was  a  farmer  in  good  circumstances, 
married  Abigail,  daughter  of  Simon  and  Sarah  (^Hamj  Torr,  and  was  father  of 
John  McDuflFee,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was  born  on  the  farm  once  the 
colonel's,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Rochester  village,  on  the  Dover  road, 
December  6,  1803. 

Of  course,  while  working  on  the  farm  more  or  less,  he  had,  for  five  or  more 
years,  the  advantage  of  a  good  school,  kept  at  the  village  by  "  Master"  Henry 
H.  Orne  (D.  C.  1812),  of  severe  discipline  and  good  scholarship,  who  supple- 
mented the  public  school  with  a  private  one  each  autumn.  Mr.  (Jrne  was  a  very 
successful  teacher,  and  among  the  associates  of  John  McDuffee  in  this  school 
were  Thomas  C.  Upham,  Nathaniel  Gr.  L^pham.  John  P.  Hale,  and  Noah  Tibbetts. 
In  1818,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  the  boy  entered  Franklin  Academy  in  Dover,  the 
first  day  of  its  existence,  Thomas  E.  Sawyer  and  Richard  Kimball  being  among 
his  associates,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Thayer  being  its  principal.  Here  he  fitted  to  enter 
college  as  sophomore,  but  returned  home,  and,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  went 
into  the  store  of  his  uncle,  John  Grreenfield,  at  Rochester.  It  was  a  large  country 
store,  where  everything  was  sold.  After  two  years'  experience,  being  only  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  began  the  same  business  for  himself  on  the  same  square ;  was 
successful,  and,  after  two  years,  took  into  partnership  his  uncle,  Jonathan  H. 
Torr.  During  this  period  he  was  commissioned  postmaster  of  Rochester,  being 
not  of  age  when  appointed,  and  he  held  this  office  until  removed  on  Jackson's 
accession  to  the  presidency. 
11 


154  JOHN    McDUFFEE. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1831  he  went  to  Dover,  and  began  the  same  busi- 
ness on  a  broader  scale,  first  in  the  Perkins  block,  and,  in  the  autumn,  as  the 
first  tenant  of  the  northern  store  in  the  new  Watson  block,  on  the  Landing,  Ira 
Christie  his  next  southern  neighbor.  This  locality,  now  at  an  end  for  such  ])ur- 
poses,  was  then  the  place  of  business  and  offices.  Steady  success  continued  to 
reward  his  energy  and  industry ;  but  in  February,  1883,  selling  to  Andrew 
Pierce,  Jr..  he  returned  to  Rochester  to  settle  the  large  estate  of  his  wife's  father, 
Joseph  Hanson,  who,  dying  in  December  previous,  had  made  him  executor. 
Mr.  Hanson,  whose  daughter  Joanna  (by  his  marriage  with  Charity  Dame)  Mr. 
McDuffee  had  married  June  21,  1829,  was  one  of  the  three  old  and  wealthy 
merchants  of  Kochester,  Nathaniel  Cpham  and  Jonas  C.  March  being  the  other 
two.  The  settlement  of  this  extended  estate  and  business  was  completed,  and 
the  accounts  settled,  by  Mr.  McDuffee's  energy,  in  seven  months;  and  it  caused 
his  entire  abandonment  of  trade,  aJthough  he  had  been  eminently  successful. 

There  was  no  bank  in  Kochester.  Old  traders  had  some  connection  with  the 
Strafford  Bank  in  Dover,  and  the  Rockingham  Bank  in  Portsmouth.  They 
loaned  money,  instead  of  getting  discounts.  Mr.  Hanson's  safe,  where  he  kept  all 
his  securities,  was  a  small  brick  building  back  of  his  store,  with  a  sheet-iron  door 
fastened  by  a  ])adlock.  He  kept  some  deposits,  however,  in  Strafford  Bank,  and 
was  a  stockholder  in  that  and  in  the  Rockingham  Bank.  The  three  principal 
traders  used  to  go  to  Boston  twice  a  year,  on  horseback,  to  ])uy  goods.  Mr. 
McDuffee  saw  that  a  bank  w'as  needed.  He  prepared  the  plans,  secured  signa- 
tures, obtained  a  charter  from  the  legislature  in  1834,  and  the  Rochester  Bank 
was  organized  with  ninety  stockholders  and  a  capitd  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  later  increased  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  with  one 
hundred  and  thirty  stockholders.  Of  the  original  ninety,  only  two  besides  Mr. 
McDuffee  now  survive.  On  the  organization  he  became  cashier,  his  brother-in- 
law.  Dr.  James  Farrington  (member  of  the  .twenty -fifth  congress),  being  pres- 
ident. This  bank  was  the  frontier  bank,  no  other  existing  between  Rochester 
and  Canada,  and  it  was  the  first  bank  which  the  counterfeits  from  Canada  natu- 
rally but  uselessly  struck.  It  was  a  favorite  of  the  people,  and  was  so  managed 
that  its  dividends  were  eight  or  nine  per  cent.  It  is  Avell  known  that  the  business 
was  really  left  to  the  probity  and  skill  of  its  cashier.  Cashier  for  twenty  years, 
on  the  then  renewal  of  its  charter,  Mr.  McDuffee  resigned  the  cashiership  in  favor 
of  his  son  Franklin,  and  became  president.  The  bank  did  not  become  a  national 
bank  until  1874,  and  in  the  six  years  previous  he  and  his  son  formed  the  house  of 
"John  McDuffee  &  Co.,  private  bankers,"  took  up  the  old  bank's  business,  and 
successfully  carried  it  on.  In  1874  they  merged  it  in  a  national  bank,  the  one 
being  president  and  the  other  cashier,  as  before,  and  the  two  taking  two-fifths  of 
its  stock.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  no  bill  has  ever  been  issued  by  either 
Rochester  bank  without  the  well  known  signature  of  John  McDuffee,  either  as 
president  or  cashier ;  and  he  still  actively  administers  the  interests  of  the  bank  he 
originated  in  another  form  forty-eight  years  ago. 

In  addition  to  this  Rochester  interest,  Mr.  McDuffee  was  one  of  the  original 
grantees  of  the  Dover  National  Bank,  and  for  a  short  time  w^as  a  director ;  but 
his  interest  became  more  in  the  Strafford  Bank,  at  Dover,  of  which  (new  charter) 
he  was  the  second  heaviest  stockholder,  Daniel  M.  Christie  being  the  first.  He 
became  a  director  in  the  Strafford  National  Bank  in  1870,  and  still  actively  holds 
that  position.  The  stock  of  this  bank  (par,  one  hundred  dollars)  has  this  year 
sold  at  one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars. 

The  Norway  Plains  Savings  Bank,  at  Rochester,  was  chartered  in  1851,  and 
Mr.  McDuffee  became  its  treasurer,  being  succeeded  by  his  son  Franklin  in  1867, 
and  himself  becoming  president,  —  an  office  in   which  he  still  remains.     It  is 


JOtLN   McDUFFEE.  155 

wortli  recalling,  that,  although  this  bank  was  ordered,  in  the  panic,  to  jmy  out  only 
five-sixths  of  any  deposit,  it  subsequently  petitioned  for  leave  to  pay.  and  did 
credit  to  every  person  affected,  the  remaining  sixth. 

Mr.  McDuft'ee  early  saw  the  advantages  of  manufacturing  to  a  community. 
By  his  own  means  and  a  liberal  allowance  of  banking  facilities  he  has  greatly 
aided  their  development,  the  first  such  enterprise  in  Kochester,  the  Mechanics' 
Manufacturing  Company,  being  decided  to  locate  there  by  the  new  banking-  facili- 
ties. Mr.  McDuff"ee  was  a  director.  It  was  a  manufacture  of  blankets,  and  its 
successor  is  the  Norway  Plains  Manufacturing  Company.  The  original  company 
Mr.  McDuff'ee  carried  safely  through  the  crisis  of  1837.  The  mill-property  at 
the  Gonic  Mr.  McDuffee  bought  in  18-45,  to  lease  to  N.  V.  Whitehouse,  that 
business  might  not  be  given  up.  He  held  his  purchase  for  about  ten  years.  The 
effort  was  successful,  and  the  property  was  eventually  taken  by  a  joint  stock  com- 
pany. Stephen  Shorey.  owning  some  facilities  for  manufacturing  at  East  Roch- 
ester, came  to  Mr.  McDuffee  to  see  if  the  bank  would  advance  means  to  build. 
Mr.  McDuff'ee  at  once  pledged  the  means,  and  the  mills  were  built.  A  stock 
company  afterwards  purchased  mills  and  machinery,  and  the  thriving  village  of 
East  Rochester  owes  its  prosperity  to  Mr.  McDuff"ee's  liberal  policy.  Thus  have 
been  developed  the  three  principal  water-powers  of  Rochester. 

Mr.  McDaff"ee's  personal  interests  in  manufacturing  were  also  in  the  Great 
Falls  Manufacturing  Company,  in  whose  great  business  he  was  a  director  for 
four  years;  capital,  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  1862  he 
bought  large  interests  in  the  Cocheco  Manufacturing  Company,  and  has  there 
remained.  Since  1874  he  has  been  a  director  of  that  corporation  As  such,  he 
advocated  the  erection  of  the  great  mill,  now  Xo.  1,  and  the  replacing  of  all  the 
old  buildings  by  new  and  magnificent  mills,  unsurpassed  in  the  United  States, — 
a  work  now  rapidly  progressing.  The  remarkable  success  of  this  company  certi- 
fies alike  to  the  sagacious  boldness  and  the  considerate  policy  of  its  directors. 

The  need  of  railroad  facilities  at  Rochester  was  early  apparent  to  Mr.  McDuff'ee. 
In  1846  he  entered  into  two  enterprises,  —  the  Cochecho  road,  from  Dover  to 
Alton  Bay,  and  the  Conway  road,  from  Great  Falls  to  Conway.  Each  was  to  and 
did  pass  through  Rochester.  In  each  road  Mr.  McDuff'ee  was  the  largest  indi- 
vidual stockholder,  and  of  each  was  the  first  treasurer.  When  the  Conway  road 
reached  Rochester,  Mr.  McDuff'ee  resigned  its  treasurership.  The  other  road, 
after  various  difficulties,  became  the  Dover  &  AVinnipesaukee,  by  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  bondholders,  and  Mr.  McDuff'ee  continued  to  be  a  director.  With 
"friend''  William  Hill,  he  visited  Boston  more  than  thirty  times  to  treat  for  the 
lease  of  this  road  to  the  Boston  &  3Iaine.  The  effort  was  finally  successful,  and 
the  road,  by  itself  weak,  became  a  fine  piece  of  property.  Rochester  was  thus 
doubly  accommodated ;  but  another  avenue  was  needed,  and  Mr.  McDuff'ee  took 
part  in  the  Portland  &  Rochester,  which  secured  a  route  eastward,  of  which  road 
he  was  a  director ;  and  he  invested  liberally  in  the  Rochester  i  Nashua,  which 
opened  a  Hue  to  the  West.  The  result  has  been  that  Rochester  is  a  "billing- 
point,"  and  its  various  manufacturing  interests  have  felt  its  impetus. 

The  beauty  of  "McDuff'ee  block''  in  Rochester,  built  by  him  in  1868,  ex- 
hibits the  o\yner's  public  spirit.  It  is  an  elegant  brick  building  of  four  stories, 
containing  six  stores,  twelve  offices  in  the  second  story,  a  public  hall  in  the  third,' 
and  a  Masonic  hall,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  state,  in  the  fourth.  In  the  use  of 
the  public  hall  the  liberality  of  its  owner  to  benevolent  objects  is  well  known.  As 
a  Mason,  he  joined  Humane  Lodge  on  the  very  day  he  became  "of  lawful  age." 
Of  other  real  estate,  Mr.  McDuff'ee  has,  besides  various  pieces  in  Rochester, 
including  such  as  the  Gonic  farm,  the  New  Durham  "  powder-mill  "  estate  of  nine 
hundred  acres  of  land  and  eleven  hundred  acres  of  water ;  and  in  Barrington 


156  JOHN    M(DUrFEK. 

two  hundred   acres    on  Isinglass  river,   held    with  a  view  to    future    manufac- 
turing needs. 

In  religion,  Mr.  McDuffee  was  hrought  u])  under  good  old  Parson  Joseph 
Haven,  and  has  remained  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Congregational  society.  In 
politics,  he  was  an  earnest  Whig.  His  first  vote  was  for  the  electors  who  chose 
John  Quincy  Adams  president,  and  his  postmastership  was  ended  by  Andrew 
Jackson.     He  has  always  been  a  decided  Kepublican. 

Mr.  McDuffee's  great  amount  of  laljor  has  been  possible  only  by  the  vigor- 
ous constitution  whicli  he  inherited.  The  boy,  who,  before  he  left  home,  "  carried 
the  forward  swath  ""  in  the  hay-field,  made  the  man  who  now  accomplishes  an 
amount  of  work  which  would  surprise  many  younger  men.  Monday  is  always 
given  to  the  Strafford  Bank,  at  Dover;  Tuesday,  he  presides  at  the  Kochester 
Bank  meeting ;   Wednesday,  at  the  Savings  Bank  ;  and  no  day  is  idle. 

Of  Mr.  McDuffee's  happy  domestic  relations  nothing  need  be  said.  Of  his 
eiiJ-ht  children, —  naming  them  in  the  order,  of  birth,  —  (1)  Joseph,  who  followed 
the  sea,  died  (single)  on  the  ocean  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  (2)  Franklin,  who 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1853,  died,  after  a  successful  financial  career, 
November  11,  18S0,  greatly  lamented ;  he  married  Mary  Fannie,  daughter  of 
John  Hayes,  of  Farniington,  and  left  two  sons,  John  Edgar  (now  in  the  Chand- 
ler Scientific  Department  of  Dartmouth  College),  and  Willis.  {'A)  John 
Bandolph,  graduated  at  the  Chandler  Scientific  Department  in  1857;  was  a  civil 
engineer  inllochoster,  and  died  single,  aged  twenty-five.  (4)  Anna  M.,  is  the 
wife  of  Frank  S.  Brown,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  of  the  firm  of  Brown,  Thompson 
&  Co.  She  has  one  son  and  two  daughters.  (5)  Mary  Abbie,  is  the  wife  of 
Charles  K.  Chase,  a  merchant  in  Rochester,  and  has  two  daughters.  (6)  Sarah 
died  single.  (7)  George,  the  only  surviving  son,  is  engaged  in  extensive  grain, 
mill,  and  lumber  business  in  Rochester;  he  married,  first,  Lizzie  Hanson,  who  died 
leaving  a  son ;  afterwards  he  married,  second,  Nellie,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  Far- 
rington,  of  Rochester,  her  father  being  nephew  of  Dr.  James  Farrington,  M.  C. 
(8)   Oliver,  died  in  infancy. 

Judged  by  the  success  of  his  work  as  the  banker,  as  develoi)ing  by  a  liberal 
and  wise  help  every  worthy  manufacturing  enterprise,  and  as  foremost  in  the 
building  of  the  various  railways  centering  in  Rochester,  it  is  clear  that  Mr. 
McDuffee  nobly  comes  into  the  list  of  those  spoken  of  in  our  first  paragraph, 
whose  record  is  in  the  prosperity  of  his  native  town,  where  ability,  sagacity, 
integrity,  and  kindliness  have  united  to  make  that  record,  as  well  as  his  own 
personal  success. 


Ens^  tr  J  J   Cade  l-Ts-vrTu-^;': 


^.  j€c 


JOHN  C.   FRENCH. 


Prior  to  1870,  New  Hampshire  had  no  reliable  fire  insurance  company. 
That  she  now  has  one  that  is  "  sound,  solid,  and  successful,"  firmly  established 
in  the  confidence  of  the  country,  and  steadily  growing  in  strength  and  stability, 
is  mainly  due  to  John  C  French,  who,  in  spite  of  much  prejudice  and  distrust, 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  New  Hampshire  Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  has 
since  been  its  leading  spirit  and  manager. 

Mr  French  came  of  sturdy  stock.     His  grandfather,  Abram  in-ench,  was  a 
native  of  Stratham,  where  he  spent  his  boyhood  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  car- 
penter and  builder,  in  which  he  soon  became  known  as  a  skillful  and  thorough 
workman      In  this  capacity  he  went  to  Pittsfield  to  complete  the  interior  of  the 
first  meetino-house  in  that  town ;  and,  when  this  was  finished,  erected  the  build- 
ino-s  upon  the  parsonage  lot  for  Rev.  Christopher  Paige,  step-father  of  the  "  beau- 
tiful Grace  Fletcher,"^ the  first  wife  of  Daniel  Webster.     Some  years  later,  Mr. 
Paio-e   removed  from  town,  and  the  young   mechanic  bought  the  place,  and  in 
17%   married   Hannah  Lane,  of  Stratham,  and  established  the  French  homt^ 
stead   in  which  he  reared  to  maturity  twelve  children,  and  dispensed  for  many 
years' the  hospitality  which  his  prosperity  enabled  him  to  provide  for  a  wide 
circle  of  relatives  and  friends.    His  numerous  children  and  grandchildren  ranked 
among  the  reliable  and  thrifty  people  of  that  town.         ,    .     ,^^„    ..,.      ^,       n 
Enoch  the  oldest  son  of  Abram  French,  who  married,  in  IblM,  h^liza  Late  ot 
Epsom  —'a  most  estimable  woman,  — and  settled  on  an  adjoining  farm,  was  the 
father  of  five  children.     The  only  survivor  of  this  family  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch   John  C.  French,  who  was  born  March  1,  1832,  and  spent  his  boyhood 
upon  one  of  the  rocky  farms  in  Pittsfield.     His  opportunities  for  obtaining  an 
education  were  very  limited,  but  his  ardent  desire  to  learn  impelled  him  to  sup- 
plement his    common-school  privileges  by  reading  at  home,  and  afterwards  to 
obtain   by  working  on  a  farm  summers  and  teaching  winters,  the  money  to  pay 
his  expenses  for  several  terms  at  the  academies  at   Pittsfield,  Cnlmanton,  and 
Pembroke      What   he  learned  at  these    institutions    only  fed  his   ambition  to 
know  more ;  and,  as  there  was  little  opportunity  for  him  to  gratify  his  tastes  and 
aspirations  at  home,  when  he  became  of  age  he  made  an  arrangement  with  J_.  H. 
Colton  &  Co.  to  solicit  orders  for  their  mounted  maps.     The  tact  and  activity 
which  he  showed  in  this  work   led  his  employers,  a  year  later,  to  give  him_  the 
Boston  agency  for  'S  Colton's  Atlas  of  the  World,"  then  in  course  of  preparation  ; 
and  in  this  he  won  another  success,  selling  over  twelve  hundred  copies  ot  this 
laro-e  and  expensive  work.     In   1855  he  was  appointed  general  agent  tor  the 
house  for  New  England,  and  subsequently  gave  considerable  time  to  the  intro- 
duction of  Colton's 'series  of  geographies  into  the  public  schools;  and  was  alter- 
wards  employed  by  Brown,  Taggart,   &   Chase,  and  Charles  Scribner  &  Co.,  m 
bringino-   out  their  school  publications.     While  thus  engaged  he  was  able  to 
oratify  his  fondness  for  travel,  observation,  and  reading;  gained  an  acquaintance 
with  the  leading  authors,  teachers,  publishers,  and  other  prominent  educators, 


158  JOHN    C.    FRENCH. 

and  a  knowledoe  of  the  local  history,  industries,  and  resources  of  all  the  prin- 
cipal towns  in  New  Enp;land.  He  also  learned  thoroughly  the  art  of  advertising, 
and  of  putting  books  upon  the  market  in  a  way  to  command  popular  favor. 

During  the  eight  years  he  was  thus  employed,  he  made  frequent  journeys  to 
Pittsfield,  and  spent  a  portion  of  each  season  there  with  his  parents,  to  whom  he 
was  devotedly  attached  ;  but  in  May,  1866,  having  been  appointed  state  agent  of 
the  Connecticut  JNIutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  he  established  his  residence  in 
Manchester,  which  has  since  been  his  home,  though  he  still  retains  possession  of 
the  beautiful  homestead  farm  upon  which  he  was  born. 

Three  years  later,  having  become  interested  in  and  fiimiliar  with  the  insurance 
interests  of  the  state,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  stock  fire  insurance 
company,  and  by  untii'ing  persistency  and  zeal  overcame  the  almost  universal 
prejudice  against  such  an  orsianization,  enlisted  in  its  support  some  of  our  most 
prominent  citizens,  secured  a  charter  and  the  capital  stock,  and  began  the  business 
which  under  his  energetic  and  prudent  directions  has  since  grown  to  great  pro- 
portions. To  this  company  he  still  gives  his  undivided  time  and  efforts,  refusing 
to  accept  political  office,  declining  all  inducements  to  go  elsewhere,  resting 
entirely  content  with  the  success  he  commands  in  and  from  the  company's  office. 
His  wide  and  varied  experience  has  given  him  a  great  insight  into  business 
affairs  and  productive  industries,  and  also  an  extensive  and  invaluable  knowl- 
edge of  men,  and  these  acquirements  and  all  his  native  abilities  he  is  brinaing 
to  the  service  of  the  company  in  the  enlarged  and  enlarging  sphere  of  his 
official  duties.  That  he  does  not  labor  in  vain  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
New  Hampshire  com))any,  so  recently  established,  has  increased  its  capital  stock 
from  one  hundred  thousand  to  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  its  cash  assets 
to  nearly  a  million,  that  it  commands  the  countenance  and  assistance  of  many  of 
our  most  prominent  men,  and  enjoys  a  national  reputation  for  prudent  manage- 
ment and  financial  success. 

Mr.  French  has  always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  his  native  town,  and,  when 
the  project  for  building  a  railroad  which  would  ]»roniote  its  growth  and  prosperity 
took  shape,  he  gave  himself  heartily  to  the  support  of  the  enterprise,  and  it  Avas 
largely  throuah  his  efforts  that  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
necessary  to  build  the  Suncook  Valley  road  was  secured,  by  subscriptions  to  the 
capital  stock  and  gratuities  from  the  towns  along  the  line.  As  one  method  of 
helping  this  work  to  a  successful  completion,  he  established  the  Simcook  Valley 
Timni  —  a  weekly  paper  —  at  Pittsfield,  and  for  two  years  contributed  regularly 
to  its  columns  a  sei'ies  of  historical  and  biographical  articles,  which  attracted 
much  attention  in  the  locality,  and  were  widely  copied  and  read  elsewhere.  He 
also  at  one  time  published  and  edited  at  Manchester  a  journal  devoted  to  insur- 
ance interests ;  and  in  these  publications,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the  New 
Hampshire  company,  has  established  a  reputation  as  a  vigorous,  versatile,  and 
popular  writer. 

The  zeal,  fidelity,  and  success  with  which  he  has  managed  the  various  inter- 
ests intrusted  to  him  have  been  highly  appreciated,  and  numerous  testimonials 
have  borne  witness  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  employers.  The  records  of  the 
New  Hampshire  company  contain  a  resolution  passed  unanimously  by  the  stock- 
holders, in  1871,  in  which  the  unparalleled  success  of  the  company  is  ascribed 
mainly  to  his  zeal  and  efficiency;  and  a  similar  resolution  is  inscribed  upon  the 
1)Ooks  of  the  Suncook  Valley  Railroad. 

Mr.  French,  while  not  a  politician,  takes  a  deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
his  help  can  always  be  depended  on  for  whatever  promises  to  promote  the  public 
good  and  the  well-being  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  He  is  a  genial 
companion,  a  stanch  friend,  and  a  man  who  wins  and  holds  the  good  opinions  of 


JOHN    C.    FRENCH.  159 

a  very  large  circle  of  acquaintances.     He  is  a  member  of  Trinity  Commandry, 
Knights  Templar,  and  a  director  of  the  Merchants  National  Bank. 

Mr.  French  married,  in  1858,  Annie  M.,  daughter  of  L.  B.  Philbrick.  Esq., 
of  Deertield,  and  has  three  children, —  Lizzie  A.,  Susie  P.,  and  Greorge  Abram, 
—  who  reside  with  their  parents. 


HON.  THOMAS  COGSWELL. 


TliK  town  of  (filmanton  has  always  been  (listiniiuished  for  its  strong  and  able 
men,  who  have  exercised  a  })Owerful  influence  in  the  affairs  of  their  town  and 
state.  It  has  furnished  men  to  fill  nearly  every  position  of  trust  and  honor  within 
the  gift  of  the  people  of  our  state,  and  it  has  ever  been  proud  of  her  illustrious 
sons.  Among  the  very  strong  men  of  this  old  town  stood  Hon.  Thomas 
Cogswell,  who  in  the  year  1820,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  moved  hither  from 
Atkinson,  N.  II.,  where  he  was  born  December  7,  1798.  He  was  one  of  a 
family  of  nine  children  of  William  and  Judith  (Badger)  Cogswell,  eight  of 
whom  lived  to  years  of  maturity.  lie  settled  on  the  farm  formerly  occupied  by 
his  grandfather,  the  Hon.  Joseph  Badger,  and  with  .'Strong  liands  and  indomitable 
courage  commenced  gaining  a  livelihood  for  himself  and  young  wife,  Mary 
Noyes,  whom  lie  married  just  ])ri()r  to  moving  here;.  He  soon  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  older  settlers,  and  in  a  short  time  became  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
town  ;  and  ever  afterwards  took  an  active  part  in  all  its  local  affairs,  and  for  the 
whole  period  of  his  life  was  honored  and  respected  by  his  neighbors  and  towns- 
men, and  received  at  their  hands  every  office  within  their  gift. 

There  is  no  position  tliat  more  truly  shows  the  strength  and  power  of  a  man 
than  that  of  moderator  of  a  New  Hampshire  town-meeting  ;  but  for  many  suc- 
cessive years  he  was  chosen  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  annual  and 
other  meetings  in  this,  then,  large  town,  and  always  did  so  with  great  dignity, 
and  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of  all.  He  was  also  chosen  one  of  the  board  of 
selectmen,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature,  and  while  a  member  of 
that  body  introduced  and  supported  a  bill  to  repeal  the  law  authorizing  imprison- 
ment for  debt.  For  ten  years  he  was  a  deputy-sheriff'  for  the  county  of  Strafford, 
before  its  division,  and  during  all  this  time  was  actively  engaged  in  the  duties  of 
the  office.  He  was  also  treasurer  of  the  county  for  three  years.  In  1841  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  for  the  new 
county  of  Belknap,  and  held  that  position  until  the  year  1855,  when  the  judi- 
ciary system  of  the  state  was  changed.  In  1856  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
governor's  council  from  district  number  three.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  ([uorum  for  over  forty  years.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  New  Hampshire  mili- 
tia, and  attained  the  rank  of  captain.  He  was  of  Revolutionary  stock,  his  father 
and  seven  uncles  having  served  in  that  war.  and  performed,  in  the  aggregate, 
thirty-eight  years  of  service. 

For  seven  years  in  succession  he  taught  the  winter  term  of  school  in  his  dis- 
trict, at  the  same  time  performing  all  the  work  incident  to  his  farm,  and  during 
his  whole  life  was  interested  in  and  a  promoter  of  education.  Gilmanton  Acad- 
emy, an  institution  established  by  the  efforts  of  his  grandfather,  Gren.  Joseph 
Badger,  and  his  uncle,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Cogswell,  with  the  assistance  of  many 
other  strong  and  good  men,  early  received  his  aid  and  co-operation,  and  he  was 
one  of  its  board  of  trustees  up  to  within  a  few  years  of  his  death.  In  early  life 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Gilmanton  Iron- Works, 


HON.    THOMAS    COGSWELL.  161 

and  was  deacon  of  the  same  for  many  years ;  and  always  gave  freely  of  his  means 
for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  and  various  duties  imposed  on  Mr.  Cogswell  by 
his  almost  continuous  service  in  some  public  position,  he  was  a  large  and  successful 
farmer,  and  by  his  own  exertions  added  year  by  year  to  his  original  farm,  so  that 
at  his  death  he  owned  in  one  tract  nearly  one  thousand  acres  of  valuable  land. 
He  was  a  great  lover  of  the  soil  and  was  always  interested  in  the  cause  of 
agriculture,  and  was  in  every  respect  a  well  informed  and  successful  farmer. 

He  possessed,  to  an  uncommon  degree,  strong  natural  powers  of  mind,  and 
wa.s  capable  of  grasping  difficult  questions  and  giving  a  good  legal  opinion.  His 
mind  was  essentially  judicial,  and,  had  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  and  prac- 
tice of  law,  would  undoubtedly  have  been  a  leading  mind  in  that  profession. 
For  many  years  he  was  consulted  by  his  neighbors  and  townsmen  upon  the  troubles 
that  frequently  arose  between  them,  and  to  his  credit,  by  his  clear  and  practical 
judgment,  saved,  frequently,  long  and  expensive  litigation.  He  was  true  to  every 
trust  committed  to  him,  and  was  scrupulously  honest  and  exact  in  all  his  dealings. 

In  politics,  Thomas  Cogswell  was  a  Democrat  to  the  end  of  his  life.  During 
the  war  of  the  rebellion,  he  was  a  strong  supporter  of  the  government,  and  a 
friend  and  well-wisher  of  every  soldier  in  the  field.  He  saw  clearly  and  plainly 
that  his  duty  as  an  American  citizen  was  to  render  all  the  aid  in  his  power  to 
help  carry  on  and  bring  to  a  successful  close  the  terrible  struggle  then  going  on. 
He  was  a  lover  of  his  country  and  delighted  in  its  free  institutions;  and,  although 
strong  in  his  political  faith,  was  not  a  partisan. 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  noted  for  his  energy  and  force  of  character ;  and,  when 
he  had  once  made  up  his  mind  as  to  a  certain  course  to  pursue,  he  never  changed 
it  until  he  was  thoroughly  satisfied  that  he  was  wrong.  He  was  a  natural  leader 
among  men,  and  possessed  the  characteristics  of  a  great  general.  He  was  a 
ready  and  fluent  public  speaker,  and  few  men  could  better  entertain  an  audience. 
He  excelled  in  strong  common  sense,  and  could  state  exactly  his  position  on  any 
subject  that  interested  him.  He  was  always  well  informed,  particularly  on  the 
history  of  his  country  and  its  many  political  changes.  He  was  of  commanding 
appearance,  and  was  a  noticeable  person  in  any  assembly.  He  was  of  an  aifec- 
tionate  disposition,  and  sympathized  with  the  aftlictions  of  others.  He  died 
August  8,  1868,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  historic  burying -ground  in  Gilmanton, 
near  the  dust  of  his  illustrious  ancestors ;  and  in  his  death  the  town  lost  a  wise 
counselor,  the  poor  a  generous  friend,  and  the  community  at  large  an  honest  and 
upright  man. 

There  are  four  children  now  living, —  Mary  C.  Burgess,  wife  of  the  late  Dr. 
Burgess,  now  living  in  Boston,  M'sss. ;  Martha  B.  Batchelder,  wife  of  the  late 
Dr.  Batchelder,  also  residing  in  Boston;  James  W.  Cogswell,  sheriiF  of  Belknap 
county ;  and  Thomas  Cogswell,  a  lawyer,  residing  on  the  old  homestead  at 
Gilmanton. 


HON.  PERSON  C.  CHENEY. 


BY    COL.    DANIEL    HALL. 


Person  Colby  Cheney  was  born  iu  that  part  of  Ilolderness,  N.  H.,  which 
is  now  Ashland,  February  25,  1828.  He  was  the  sixth  child  in  a  family  of  five 
sons  and  six  daughters,  —  children  of  Moses  and  Al)igail  (Morrison)  Cheney, — 
nine  of  whom  still  survive. 

Of  his  sisters,  Sarah  B.  is  the  wife  of  llev.  S.  G.  Abbott,  of  Needham, 
Mass. ;  Abby  M.  is  the  widow  of  George  Washburn,  late  of  GofTstown,  N.  H. ; 
Ruth  E.  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  W.  Lord,  of  Wollaston,  Mass. ;  Marcia  A.  is  the 
wife  of  J.  P.  F.  Smith,  of  Meredith,  N.  II. ;  Hattie  0.  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  C.  F. 
Bonney,  of  Manchester,  N.  H. 

Of  his  brothers.  Rev.  0.  B.  Cheney,  D.  D.,  is  the  president  of  Bates  College, 
Lewiston,  Me.,  and  has  mainly  laid  the  foundations  of  the  success  and  ])opularity 
of  that  excellent  institution  of  learning ;  E.  H.  Cheney  is  the  editor  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  Granite  State  Free  Press,  Lebanon,  N.  H. ;  and  Moses  Cheney, 
a  manufacturer  of  paper  at  Henniker,  X.  H.,  is  retired  from  business. 

The  square,  old-fashioned  New  England  house,  where  the  family  resided,  is 
still  to  be  seen.  It  stands  in  the  jiicturesque  village  of  Ashland,  overlooking  the 
valley  below,  and  commanding  a  view  of  lofty  hills  and  beautiful  scenery.  The 
childhood  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  passed  in  this  venerable  mansion,  but 
his  boyhood  and  early  manhood  were  ])asscd  at  Peterborough,  N.  H.,  where  his 
father  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  This  gave  him  an  early  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  paper  business,  enabled  him  to  gain  a  knowledge 
of  all  its  details,  and  gave  him  those  habits  of  industry  and  self-relianc6,  which, 
upon  the  basis  of  a  strong  natural  sagacity  and  force  of  character,  have  distin- 
guished his  business  life.  He  acquired  a  fair  education  in  the  ordinary  branches 
of  knowledge,  in  the  academies  at  Peterborough  and  Hancock,  N.  H.,  and 
Parsonsfield,  Me. 

His  father  removed  to  Holderness  in  1845,  having 'sold  his  interest  to  A.  P. 
Morrison ;  and  Person  C.  Cheney  assumed  the  management  of  the  paper-mill  at 
Peterborough.  In  1853  a  firm  of  which  Mr.  Cheney  was  a  member  built 
another  paper-mill  at  Peterborough  ;  but  he  soon  bought  out  the  interest  of  his 
associates,  and  continued  business  in  Peterborough  till  1866. 

Mr.  Cheney  took  an  early  interest  in  politics,  and  represented  the  town  of 
Peterborough  in  the  legislature  in  1853  and  1854.  He  entered  ardently  into  the 
memorable  events  of  1860  and  1861,  and  zealously  aided  and  promoted  the  prep- 
aration of  his  state  for  the  great  struggle  to  maintain  the  Union.  In  due  time 
he  oflFered  his  personal  services,  and  in  August,  1862,  was  a])pointed  (juarter- 
master  of  the  13th  Regiment,  N.  H.  Vols.,  and  proceeded  with  the  regiment  to 
the  seat  of  war.  Joining  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  he  rendered  faithful  service 
to  the  regiment  and  the  country  until  exposure  and  overwork  in  the  campaign 
before  Fredericksburg  brought  on  a  long  and  dangerous  sickness.     Barely  escap- 


HON^.    PEKSON    C.    CHENEY. 


163 


ino-  with  his  life,  he  was  compelled  to  resign  and  return  home.  He  received  an 
honorable  discharge  in  August,  1863.  From  that  time  till  the  close  of  the  war 
the  Union  cause  at  home  had  no  more  earnest  or  efficient  friend  and  champiom 
In  1864  he  was  chosen  railroad  commissioner  of  New  Hampshire,  and  served 

three  years.  ,  .        .  ■■ 

In  1866  Mr  Cheney  removed  to  Manchester,  and  formed  a  partnership  with 
Thomas  L.  Thorpe,  as  a  dealer  in  paper  stock  and  manufacturer  of  paper  at 
Ooffstowu  In  1868  the  firm  of  E.  M.  Tubbs  &  Co,  of  which  Mr.  Cheney 
had  been  a  member  three  years,  bought  out  the  interest  of  Mr.  Thorpe  and  the 
business  was  continued  under  the  name  of  P.  C.  Cheney  &  Co.  in  1«7*]  the 
mill  at  Goflfstown  was  destroyed  by  fire,  but  was  replaced  by  a  new  mill,  and  the 
business  enlarged  by  rebuilding  the  old  mill  at  Amoskeag  village. 

Mr.  Cheney,  upon  becoming  a  resident  of  Manchester,  became  at  _  once 
thoroughly  and  prominently  identified  with  the  development  and  prosperity  of 
that  rapidly  growing  city ;  and  very  soon  his  business  capacity  and  integrity,  his 
liberal  spirit  and  engaging  manners,  attracted  attention  to  him  as  a  man  not  only 
highly  fitted  for  public  honors,  but  as  pre-eminently  capable  of  commanding 
them  at  the  hands  of  the  people.  He  was  brought  forward  as  a  candidate  for 
mayor  of  Manchester  in  1871,  and  elected  by  a  larger  majority  than  any  candidate 
had  received  since  1863.  He  performed  the  duties  intelligently  and  to  general 
acceptance,  but  declined  a  re-election.  In  1874,  at  its  organization,  he  was 
chosen  president  of  the  People's  Savings  Bank,  and  still  retains  the  office. 

In  1875,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  Mr.  Cheney  became  the  Republican 
candidate  for  governor.  In  1874  the  Republicans  had  lost  the  state  for  causes 
which  it  would  not  be  useful  to  recite  ;  and  the  Democrats,  having  control  of 
every  branch  of  legislation,  had  used  their  power  to  fortify  themselves  in  the 
possession  of  the  state  government,  by  making  new  ward  divisions  in  the  city  of 
Manchester,  and  redistricting  for  councilors  and  senators,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
put  their  adversaries  at  great  disadvantage,  and  render  it  almost  impossible  to 
recover  the  state.  Under  such  circumstances  it  became  absolutely  necessary  for 
them  to  place  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  a  name  of  the  greatest  personal  popu- 
larity. Such  were  the  prestige  of  Mr.  Cheney,  gained  by  his  successful  adminis- 
tration in  Manchester,  his  personal  magnetism  among  those  who  knew  him,  and 
his  well  known  energy  as  a  canvasser,  that,  unexpectedly  to  himself,  he^  was 
selected  as  the  standard-bearer  of  his  party,  and  the  result  proved  how  wisely. 
The  hottest  campaign  ever  known  in  a  state  proverbial  for  the  violence  of  its 
political  contests  ensued,  and  there  was  no  choice  of  governor  by  the  people  ; 
but  Mr.  Cheney  had  a  plurality  of  the  votes  cast,  although  Judge  Roberts,  his 
competitor,  received  the  heaviest  vote  his  party  had  ever  polled  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. The  Republicans  secured  a  majority  in  the  legislature,  which  elected  Mr. 
Cheney  governor.  In  1876,  Gov.  (/heney  was  again  a  candidate,  and  after  a 
canvass  which  exceeded  in  intensity  even  that  of  1875,  he  was  re-elected  by  a 
flattering  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  which  was  heavier  than  had  ever  before 
been  cast  in  New  Hampshire.  Mr.  Cheney  brought  to  the  office  of  governor  a 
patriotic  love  for  the  state  and  solicitude  for  her  good  name,  a  clear  insight,  great 
executive  ability,  thorough  business  habits,  and  personal  dignity,  urbanity,  and 
tact  of  a  high  order.  These  qualities,  combined  with  his  undoubted  integrity 
and  earnestness  of  purpose,  enabled  him  to  give  the  state  a  most  prudent  and 
successful  administration  of  its  affairs.  The  retrenchment  of  expenses,  so  much 
needed  in  a  period  of  financial  depression  following  years  of  sharp  distress,  was 
kept  steadily  in  view,  and  a  thorough  business  system  inaugurated  in  all  branches 
of  the  government;  the  affairs  of  the  adjutant-general's  office  were  redeemed  from 
years  of  neglect  and   confusion ;  the  state   debt  was  materially  reduced  ;  at  his 


164  HON.    PERSON    C.    CHENEY. 

suggestion  a  law  was  passed  requiring  vouchers  to  be  filed  for  all  disbursements 
from  the  governor's  contingent  fund ;  and  the  finances  of  the  state  were  left 
in  all  respects  upon  a  sound  and  stable  basis.  The  prominent  part  of  New 
Hampshire  in  the  Centennial  Exposition  was  due  largely  to  his  foresight,  his 
faith  in  its  benefits,  and  his  untiring  efforts  in  its  behalf.  None  who  participated 
in  them  will  ever  forget  the  brilliant  success  of  "New  Hampshire  Day"  at  Phila- 
delphia, or  the  reception  of  Grovernor  and  Mrs.  Cheney,  during  his  term  of 
office,  to  the  members  of  the  legislature  and  the  citizens  of  Concord,  at  White's 
Opera  House,  which  was  a  memorable  social  event. 

Grov.  Cheney  retired  from  office  with  the  universal  respect  and  esteem  of  men 
cif  all  parties,  and  has  since  devoted  himself  closely  to  business.  On  the  death 
of  his  partner,  Dr.  Tubbs,  in  1878,  Gov.  Cheney  purchased  his  quarter  interest, 
and  thus  became  sole  proprietor  of  the  business.  The  following  year  he  con- 
verted the  property  of  the  old  "  Peterborough  Company"  at  Peterborough,  into 
a  pul])-mill,  and  obtained  an  amendment  of  the  charter,  by  act  of  the  legislature, 
changing  its  name  to  the  "  P.  C.  Cheney  Company."  This  charter  is  among  the 
oldest  in  the  state,  having  been  granted  in  1833,  and  bears  the  names  of  Charles 
H.  Atherton,  Samuel  Appleton,  Samuel  May,  Isaac  Parker,  Nathan  Appleton, 
and  others,  as  grantees.  The  original  charter  authorizes  the  company  to  extend 
its  operations  to  any  town  in  the  .state. 

In  1880  the  company  commenced  operations  for  increasing  its  production 
by  building  both  a  pulp  and  paper  mill  in  connection  with  the  old  one  at  Man- 
chester. This  enterprise  has  })een  carried  to  completion,  and  thereby  doubled  in 
amount  an  already  extensive  business.  ■  Consequently  the  corporation,  the  stock 
of  which  is  held  by  Gov.  Cheney  solely,  now  owns  and  carries  on  wood-pulp 
mills  at  Goffstown  and  Peterborough,  and  also  one  in  connection  with  its 
paper-mill  and  waste-works  at  Manchester.  Its  paper- warehouse  is  at  No.  1104 
Elm  street.  The  product  of  these  various  establishments,  and  their  monthly 
disbursements  for  labor  and  services,  are  very  large ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  a  more 
important  business  has  been  built  up  in  our  state  by  the  courage,  foresight,  and 
skill  of  one  man.  Gov.  Cheney  is  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  keeps  all  the 
details  of  his  extensive  and  complicated  business  within  easy  command. 

He  is  identified  with  the  First  Unitarian  church  of  Manchester,  and  has  been 
a  director  and  president  of  the  society.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Altemont  Lodge ;  also  a  member  of  Peterborough  Lodge,  I.  0.  0.  F. 

In  1850  he  was  married  to  Miss  S.  Anna  Moore,  who  died  January  8,  1858, 
leaving  no  children.  He  married,  June  20,  1859,  Mrs.  Sarah  White  Keith, 
daughter  of  Jonathan  White,  formerly  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  one  of  the  earliest  of 
Lowell's  manufacturers,  by  whom  he  has  one  daughter,  Agnes  Annie  Cheney, 
born  October  22,  1869.  His  domestic  life  is  singuhwly  happy  and  charming. 
His  residence.  No.  136  Lowell  street,  is  a  home  of  modest  elegance,  of  courtly  hos- 
pitality, and  the  center  of  a  refined  circle.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  to  the 
affectionate  sympathy,  the  grace,  and  fine  social  tact  of  his  accomplished  wife. 
Gov.  Cheney  owes  not  only  the  enjoyments  of  a  delightful  home,  but  much  of 
the  success  and  popularity  of  his  career. 

The  bare  outlines  of  Gov.  Cheney's  life,  as  above  given,  convey  but  a  faint 
impression  of  the  essential  quality  of  the  man,  and  his  importance  as  a  factor  in 
the  social,  business,  and  political  life  of  his  day  and  generation.  It  remains  to 
be  said  that  in  Manchester  his  name  is  the  synonym  for  liberality,  public  spirit, 
a  generous  and  helpful  charity,  and  a  philanthropy,  which,  though  unobtrusive, 
loses  no  opportunity  to  exert  itself  for  the  relief  of  distress  and  the  elevation  of 
society  at  large.  Of  a  sympathetic  nature,  he  cares  more  for  others  than  him- 
self, and  no  deserving  person  or  worthy  object  ever  solicits  his  aid  in  vain.     He  is 


HOX.    PERSON    C.    CHENEY.  165 

prominent  in  every  movement  for  the  public  good,  and  never  spares  himself,  nor 
grudges  the  means  which  his  business  saga'city,  energy  and  enterprise  have  gained 
for  him,  when  work  is  to  be  done  for  a  good  cause,  or  help  is  needed  for  any- 
body in  poverty  or  distress. 

Mr.  Cheney  is  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  his  useful  service,  his  honorable 
and  upright  character,  his  high  and  unselfish  aims,  have  made  him  a  power  in 
the  state.  A  brave,  true,  and  honest  man,  a  sincere  and  warm-hearted  friend,  of 
positive  convictions,  of  unflinching  devotion  to  principle,  and  fitted  for  any  sta- 
tion, he  is  obviously  in  the  line  of  succession  to  still  higher  honors  than  have 
been  accorded  him.  It  goes  without  saying  that  such  a  man  has  hosts  of  friends- 
and  certain  it  is  that  he  is  second  to  no  man  in  New  Hampshire  in  those  elements 
of  popular  strength  and  confidence  which  commend  men  to  public  service. 

An  earlier  biographer,  from  whose  sketch  most  of  this  is  derived,  appropri- 
ately closes  his  delineation  of  him  with  the  remark,  that  "  Mr.  Cheney  may  yet 
be  drawn  from  the  seclusion  of  private  life,  and  the  unremitting  toil  of  active 
business,  to  lend  his  aid  to  the  councils  of  a  nation." 


HON.  PHINEHAS  ADAMS. 


nv    ARTHUR    P.    DODGE. 


Phineiias  Adams  was  born  in  Medway,  Mass.,  the  twentieth  day  of  June, 
1814,  and  comes  from  the  very  best  Revolutionary  stock  of  New  England.  His 
grandfather  and  great-grandfather  participated  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and 
served  through  that  memorable  war.  lie  had  three  brothers  and  seven  sisters, 
of  whom  the  former  all  died  jirevious  to  18!>1.  Three  sisters  are  now  living  : 
Sarah  Ann,  born  in  18U),  the  wife  of  E.  B.  Hammond,  M.  D.,  of  Nashua;  Eliza 
P.,  born  in  1820,  widow  of  the  late  Ira  Stone,  formerly  an  overseer  in  the  Stark 
Mills;  and  Mary  Jane,  born  in  1822,  widow  of  the  late  James  Buncher,  a 
former  designer  for  the  Merrimack  Print- Works  at  Lowell,  Mass.  Mrs. 
Buncher  is  the  present  po])ular  and  very  efficient  librarian  of  the  Manchester 
public  library. 

His  father,  Phinehas  Adams,  senior,  married  Sarah  W.  Barber,  a  native  of 
Holliston,  Mass.,  in  1811.  Her  father  was  an  Englishman,  who  came  to  America 
from  Warrenton,  England,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  married  in  this 
country  a  Scottish  lady  who  came  from  Edinburgh. 

Phinehas  Adams,  the  senior,  was  both  a  farmer  and  a  mechanic,  and  became 
(|uite  au  extensive  manufacturer.  At  a  very  early  date  he  constructed  hand- 
looms,  which  he  employed  girls  to  operate  ;  and,  subsequently,  started  the  first 
power-loom  that  was  ever  established  in  this  country,  at  Waltham,  Mass.,  in  the 
year  1814. 

In  this  year  and  in  the  same  town  he  became  a  mill  overseer,  and  afterwards 
gave  his  whole  attention  to  manufacturing.  He  resided,  when  Phinehas  was  a 
child,  at  diflFerent  times  in  Waltham  and  Cambridge,  Mass..  and  in  Nashua,  to 
which  latter  place  he  removed  later  in  life,  and  became  proprietor  of  a  hotel, 
the  Central  House.  This  business  was  more  agreeable  to  him,  since  he  had 
broken  several  of  his  ribs  and  received  other  injuries  from  an  unfortunate  fall. 

Hon.  William  P.  Newell,  of  Manchester,  who  was  agent  of  the  Amoskeag 
company  from  1837  to  1846,  was  once  a  bobbin-boy  for  the  elder  Adams.  This 
was  ten  years  before  the  son,  who  was  attending  a  private  school  in  West  Newton, 
Mass.,  until  1827,  began  to  work  in  the  mills.  In  the  last-named  year,  his 
father  became  agent  of  the  Neponset  Manufacturing  Company's  mills  —  which 
were  owned  by  himself,  Dr.  Oliver  Dean,  and  others  —  at  Walpole,  in  the 
same  state  ;  and  to  this  place  he  removed  his  residence. 

When  quite  young,  the  son  disliked  close  confinement  in  school,  the  task  of 
poring  over  books  being  to  him  rather  dry  and  irksome  ;  but  his  father  said  to 
him  that  he  must  either  study  or  go  to  work  in  the  mill.  At  the  latter  place 
he  was  soon  found  engaged  in  a  work  well  calculated  to  dispel  boyish  romance 
in  a  summary  manner.  He  almost  repented  making  this  choice,  but  pluckily 
"  stuck  to  the  work  "  with  the  indomitable  perseverance  so  often  disjilayed  in 
after  life,  and  was  employed  as  a  bobbin-boy  for  a  year  by  the  company.     He 


,y%^.^p?/  -Wc;^c 


^^7Z^ 


HON.    PHINEHAS    ADAMS.  167 

then  entered  Wrentliam  Academy,  where  he  remained,  making  progress  in  his 
studies,  for  a  year  and  a  half,  when  his  father  was  compelled  to  inform  him  that 
he  had  met  with  serious  losses  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  the  company,  and  that 
he,  Phinehas,  would  now  leave  the  academy  and  go  to  work.  The  father  very 
much  regretted  feeling  obliged  to  take  this  course,  having  cherished  the  hope  of 
being  able  to  give  his  son  a  thorough  education.  The  latter  readily  accepted  the 
situation,  replied  to  his  father  that  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  work,  but,  that  if 
he  must  go  to  work  in  a  mill,  he  preferred  that  it  should  be  in  a  large  one,  and 
not  in  a  "  one-horse  concern  ;  "  for  he  desired  a  wide  field  and  the  best  possible 
opportunities  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  the  business  in  its  many  details. 

One  of  the  greatest  events  in  the  commercial  history  of  our  country  was  the 
founding  of  the  "  City  of  Spindles,"  in  1821.  Very  naturally,  the  junior  Adams 
was  led  to  go  there  to  gain  his  desired  knowledge.  On  the  10th  of  November, 
1829,  he  proceeded  to  Lowell,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  became  emjiloyed  as  bob- 
bin-boy in  the  mills  of  the  Merrimack  company.  At  that  time,  the  company 
had  only  about  thirty  thousand  spindles  in  its  mills. 

In  these  early  days  of  manufacturing,  the  system  was  adhered  to  in  Lowell 
of  keeping  fierce  bull-dogs  —  one,  at  least —  in  each  mill.  They  were  liberally 
fed  with  fresh  meat,  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  them  less  savage,  and  chained 
near  the  entrance  to  the  mill,  making  effectual  sentinels  while  the  watch-mew 
were  making  their  rounds.     This  custom  was  followed  until  about  1831. 

Mr.  Adams  was  early  possessed  of  an  ambition  to  become  an  overseer  ;  and 
to  this  end  he  labored  hard  and  faithfully,  never  thinking  or  dreaming,  however, 
that  he  would  become  agent  of  a  large  mill.  This  was  his  real  beginning,  the 
wedding  to  his  long  and  uninterrupted  manufacturing  life,  the  "golden  wedding" 
anniversary  of  which  event  occurred  in  November,  1879. 

Soon  after  his  commencement  at  Lowell,  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of 
second  overseer  in  the  weaving  department,  a  post  he  retained  until  1831,  when 
he  passed  to  a  similar  position  in  the  Methuen  Company's  mill,  of  which  his 
uncle  was  agent.  In  1833  he  made  another  change,  going  to  Hooksett,  where 
he  became  overseer  in  the  Hooksett  Manufacturing  Company's  mills,  of  which 
his  father  was  then  the  agent.  Not  long  afterwards  he  assumed  a  similar  posi- 
tion in  the  Pittsfield  Manufacturing  Company's  mill,  at  Pittsfield,  then  under 
the  administration  of  Ithamar  A.  Beard.  Mr.  Adams  remained  in  Pittsfield 
from  December,  1834,  until  Mr.  Beard  resigned. 

On  the  7th  of  March.  1835,  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  previously  decided  to 
return  to  Lowell,  left  Pittsfield  ;  embarked  in  the  mail  stage,  and  found  himself 
about  noon  of  the  next  day  at  Nashua,  where  his  parents  then  resided.  In  those 
days  there  was  no  city  of  Manchester,  neither  was  there  a  splendid  railroad  ser- 
vice running  through  the  fertile  Merrimack  valley.  But  the  waters  of  the  Mer- 
rimack, though  scarcely  at  all  utilized  at  that  time  to  propel  water-wheels,  carried 
upon  its  bosom  heavily  laden  vessels  from  Boston,  via  the  old  Middlesex 
canal,  which  ran  as  far  north  as  Concord.  Locks  were  in  use  at  Garvin's  Falls, 
Hooksett,  Manchester,  Groff"e's  Falls,  Nashua,  and  at  other  points.  A  passeno-er 
Bteamer  plied  in  those  days  between  Lowell  and  Nashua  upon  the  river.  Mr. 
Adams  remained  at  home  only  until  Monday.  He  was  industriously  inclined, 
and  proceeded  immediately  to  the  Merrimack  Mills  in  Lowell,  the  scene  of  his 
earlier  labors,  where  he  accepted  the  office  of  overseer.  He  remained  with  this 
company  until  he  came  to  Manchester,  in  1846.  In  December,  1841,  John 
Clark,  the  agent  of  the  Merrimack  Mills  at  Lowell,  proposed  that  Mr.  Adams 
should  enter  the  office  as  a  clerk.  This  idea  was  very  distasteful  to  Mr.  Adams, 
but  he  yielded  to  the  wishes  and  advice  of  Mr.  Clark,  to  get  acquainted  with 
book-keeping  and  the  general  business  of  the  mills,  to  prepare  for  a  higher  posi- 
tion.    For  five  years  he  held  this  position. 


168  HON.    PIIINEIIAS    ADAMS. 

In  the  year  1846,  Mr.  Adams  left  Lowell  to  assume  the  agency  (succeeding 
the  Hon.  William  P.  Newell)  of  the  "  Old  Amoskeag  Mills,"  then  located  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Merrimack  River  at  Amoskeag  Falls,  —  now  a  part  of  the 
city  of  Manchester,  —  on  the  present  site;  of  ex-dovernor  P.  C.  Cheney's 
paper-mill.  The  building  of  the  Amoskeag  mills  was  the  beginning  of  Man- 
chester's wonderful  career  of  prosperity,  which  has  developed  to  such  great  pro- 
portions. Her  many  mills,  now  running  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  spin- 
dles, many  looms,  and  many  cloth-printing  machines,  and  the  many  other  signs  of 
industry,  are  abundantly  attesting  to  the  truth  of  the  statement.  With  the  Amos- 
keag company  Mr.  Adams  remained  until  the  17th  of  November,  1847,  when 
he  became  agent  of  the  Stark  Mills. 

Of  the  great  Tnanufactories  of  Manchester,  that  of  the  Stark  Mills  company 
ranks  third  in  magnitude  and  second  in  age.  This  company  was  organized 
Se})tember  2(),  1S:}8,  and  began  active  operations  during  the  following  year. 
During  its  forty  years  and  more  of  busy  existence,  up  to  April  30,  1881,  when 
Mr.  Adams  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health,  it  had  but  two  resident  agents: 
John  A.  Burnham  held  the  position  from  the  inception  of  the  corporation  until 
the  17th  of  November,  1847,  the  date  marking  the  commencement  of  the  long 
term  of  service  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  At  that  time  the  capital  of  the 
Stark  Mills  company  was  the  same  as  now, —  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  shares,  the  par  value  of  which  was  one  thousand  dollars, 
were  worth  six  or  seven  hundred  dollars  when  Colonel  Adams  was  chosen  agent  ; 
but  th(!y  had  risen  to  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  dollars  when  he  resigned. 

In  the  early  days  of  New  England  manufacturing,  more  labor  was  performed 
by  hand  than  is  to-day;  and,  though  sulistantially  the  same  machinery  was  em- 
ployed, yet  it  had  by  no  means  attained  its  present  capacity  and  wonderful 
completeness.  In  December,  1868,  Mr.  Ad;mis  was  commissioned  by  the  direct- 
ors of  the  Stark  Mills  to  go  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  securing  machinery, 
and  information  relating  to  the  manufacture  of  linen  goods.  At  that  time, 
owing  to  the  war,  cotton  goods  were  very  scarce  and  expensive.  For  unmanu- 
factured cotton  itself  the  Stark  company  paid  as  high  as  one  dollar  and  eighty- 
six  cents  per  pound,  and  a  higher  price  than  even  that  was  paid  by  other  com- 
panies. A  bale  of  cotton  brought  nine  hundred  and  thirty  dollars.  Mr.  Adams 
traveled  extensively  through  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  and  visited  the 
city  of  Paris.  He  ordered  considerable  machinery  of  the  English  manufacturers, 
who  were  very  busy  with  American  orders  at  the  time.  So  great,  in  fact, 
was  the  demand  upon  them,  that  the  Stark  machinery  did  not  arrive  until  the 
September  following,  nearly  a  year  after  being  ordered. 

From  choice,  Colonel  Adams  has  been  quite  clear  of  politics,  having  only 
served  as  ward  clerk  when  a  young  man  in  Lowell,  and,  later,  as  a  presidential 
elector  for  Ceneral  Grant.  He  was  Grovernor  Straw's  chief-of-staff,  which,  by 
the  way,  it  is  believed  never  "  turned  out  in  a  body"  as  such.  He  was  also  four 
years  a  director  in  the  Concord  Railroad,  just  after  the  decease  of  Governor 
Gilmore.  About  the  year  1848  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assistant  engineers  of 
the  Manchester  fire  department,  in  which  capacity  he  served  with  peculiar  fidelity 
for  twelve  years.  Mr.  Adams  and  the  other  engineers  resigned  their  positions 
after  two  steamers  had  been  obtained,  thus  giving  the  captains  of  the  old  com- 
panies chances  of  promotion.  Never  being  "up  for  office,"  as  were  many  of  his 
friends,  he  could  act  with  positive  independence ;  and  he  invariably  did  act,  as 
he  thought,  for  the  best  interests  of  the  city. 

Col.  Adams  has  for  a  long  time  been  closely  identified  with  the  moneyed 
institutions  of  Manchester,  having  served  as  a  director  in  the  Merrimack  River 
Bank  from   1857   to  1860,  the  same  in  the  Manchester  National   Bank  from 


HON.    PHLNEHAS    ADAMS.  169 

1865  to  the  present  time;  and  as  a  trustee  in  the  Slanchester  Savings  Bank 
nearly  all  the  time  since  it  obtained  its  charter.  Since  the  decease  of  Hon. 
Herman  Foster,  Mr.  Adams  has  been  one  of  the  committee  on  loans  for  the 
latter  institution.  He  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Gas-Light  Company, 
and  was  for  many  years  a  trustee  of  the  public  library.  He  was  elected,  in 
1865,  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  New  England  Cotton  Manufacturers' 
Association. 

For  many  years,  Mr.  Adams  has  been  engaged,  as  opportunity  occurred,  in 
procuring  rare  coins  and  medals.  Of  the  former,  he  now  possesses  very  complete 
collections  of  the  various  denominations  in  gold,  silver,  nickel,  and  copper;  and 
he  has  a  great  number  of  valuable  medals.  Many  of  these  antiquities  command 
a  very  high  price  in  the  market,  their  numbers  being  absolutely  limited,  and  the 
demand  for  them  steadily  increasing. 

During  the  administration  of  Colonel  Adams,  which  covered  a  long  series  of 
eventful  years,  a  great  many  changes  occurred.  In  what  may  be  called,  more 
particularly,  the  manufacturing  world  is  this  especially  true.  He  is  the  oldest 
agent  and  the  longest  in  such  position  in  the  city, —  nay,  more,  in  the  entire 
Merrimack  valley ;  and  most  of  those  holding  similar  positions  thirty-two  years 
ago  are  now  passed  from  this  life.  That  fine  old  estate  on  Hanover  street,  for 
along  time  known  as  the  ''Harris  estate,"  was  formerly  owned  by  the  Stark 
coinpany,  who  built  the  commodious  mansion  now  converted  into  a  charitable 
institution,  —  the  "  Orphans'  Home," — for  the  use  of  their  agents.  John  A. 
Burnham  was  its  first  occupant ;  and  next,  Mr.  Adams,  who  resided  there  nine 
years,  beginning  with  1847. 

When  Baldwin  &  Co.'s  steam  mill  on  Manchester  street,  where  D.  B. 
Varney's  brass  foundry  is  located,  was,  with  other  structures,  burned  on  the  5th 
of  July,  1852,  that  house,  then  occupied  by  Mr.  Adams,  was  set  on  fire  by  the 
flying  sparks ;  but  the  fire  was  speedily  extinguished.  Mr.  Adams  was  at  the 
time  attending  to  his  duties  as  engineer  where  the  fire  raged  the  fiercest.  Thus 
Mrs.  Adams  and  those  of  her  household  were  without  protection  of  the  sterner 
sex  in  the  early  part  of  their  peril.  Soon,  however,  aid  was  profiered  by  several 
men,  of  whom  Mrs.  Adams  admitted  Mr.  Walter  Adriance  and  three  others, 
friends  of  the  family,  whereupon  she  securely  barricaded  the  doors.  The  work 
of  passing  water  to  the  roof  was  very  lively  for  a  while. 

In  185G,  Mr.  Adams  moved  into  the  house  No.  2  Water  street,  where  he 
lived  about  nine  years,  when  he  purchased  his  present  fine  residence,  No.  18 
Brook  street. 

On  the  2-l:th  of  Septeml^er,  1889,  Mr.  Adams  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  EHzabeth  P.  Simpson,  daughter  of  the  late  Deacon  Samuel  Simpson,  of 
Deerfield,  a  veteran  in  the  war  of  1812.  Mrs.  Adams"s  paternal  grandfather, 
Major  John  Simpson,  participated  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and,  it  is  said 
upon  good  authority,  fired  the  first  shot,  on  the  American  side,  of  that  famous 
engagement. 

It  occurred  in  this  wise :  The  men  in  his  line  were  instructed  by  their  com- 
mander, Colonel  Stark,  not  to  fire  a  gun  until  the  British  had  arrived  at  a  certain 
point,  forty  paces  distant  from  the  American  works.  When  the  red-coated 
invaders  had  advanced  to  within  that  distance,  the  major  (who  was  then  a  pri- 
vate), an  excellent  marksman,  being  unable  to  withstand  so  good  an  opportunity, 
fired  before  the  order  was  given,  and  dropped  his  man.  The  fire  was  then 
opened  along  the  whole  line.  On  being  reproved  for  disobeying  orders,  Mr. 
Simpson  replied.  "  I  never  could  help  firing  when  game  which  I  was  after  came 
within  gun-shot.''  He  died  October  28.  1825. 
12 


170  HON.    THINEHAS   ADAMS. 

From  this  liappy  union  of  Mr.  Adams  with  Miss  Simpson  two  children  have 
sprung:  Elizabeth,  born  June  15,  1842,  and  Phinehas  Adams,  Jr.,  born  Decem- 
ber 26  1844, — both  being  born  in  the  same  house  in  the  city  of  Lowell.  The 
former  is  the  wife  of  Daniel  C.  Gould,  paymaster  of  the  Stark  Mills,  and  the 
popular  tenor  singer  at  the  Franklin-street  church,  to  whom  she  was  married  the 
10th  of  September,  1868.  Mr.  Gould  is  the  son  of  Deacon  Daniel  Gould,  who 
was  the  first  railroad-station  agent  in  Manchester,  a  position  he  held  until  suc- 
ceeded by  the  late  Henry  Hurlburt.  Mr.  Phinehas  Adams,  Jr.,  married  Miss 
Anna  P.  Morrison,  of  Belfast,  Maine. 

About  a  year  after  being  married,  Phinehas  Adams  joined  the  First  Congre- 
gational church  in  Lowell.  Mrs.  Adams  was  a  member  of  the  same  church. 
On  removing  to  Manchester,  both  had  their  relation  transferred  to  the  Franklin- 
street  Congregational  church. 

At  a  business  meeting  of  the  Stark  Corporation  directors,  in  1879,  on  the 
suo-o-estion  of  Edmund  Dwight,  it  was  voted  to  present  Colonel  Adams  with  a 
suitable  token,  bearing  testimony  of  the  high  respect  in  which  he  is  held  by 
them.  Therefore,  on  the  17th  of  November,  1871),  that  being  the  date  complet- 
ing his  thirty-two  years  of  service  as  agent  of  that  corporation,  they  presented 
him  with  one  of  the  most  valuable  gold  Avatches  made  by  the  Waltham  company, 
too-ether  with  a  massive  gold  chain  and  an  elegant  seal.  Inside  the  watch-case  is 
eno-raved  the  following:  "The  Stark  Mills  to  Phinehas  Adams,  November  17, 
1847-1879.  William  Amory.  Edmund  Dwight,  treasurer."  Accompanying 
these  superb  gifts  was  the  following  letter,  expressive  of  sentiments  that  any 
honorable  man  would  be  justly  proud  to  merit :  — 

"Boston,  November  1j,  1879. 

"  My  Dear  Sir, —  I  send  you  a  watch  and  chain  by  request  of  the  directors  of 
the  Stark  Mills.  It  will  reach  you  on  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  you 
entered  their  service,  thirty-two  years  ago.  Will  you  receive  it  as  an  expression 
of  their  great  respect  for  your  character,  and  their  high  appreciation  of  the 
service  you  have  rendered  the  corporation  during  the  third  part  of  a  century? 

"  It  is  their  sincere  hope  that  the  connection  which  has  lasted  so  long  may 

long  continue. 

"With  great  regard,  yours  sincerely, 

"EDMUND  DWIGHT,  Treasurer." 

"Phinehas  Adams,  Esq." 

This  testimonial  was  eminently  deserved,  as  no  one  is  held  in  greater  or  more 
universal  respect  than  is  the  upright,  courteous,  and  genial  recipient. 

Right  here  it  may  be  as  well  to  put  on  record  the  fact  that  Mr.  Adams  has 
never  used  tobacco  or  intoxicating  liquors  during  his  life.  The  life  of  Mr. 
Adams  proves  that  tireless  persistence  and  devotion  to  duty  accomplish  much. 
The  influence  exerted  by  his  life  is  far  greater  than  is  commonly  supposed  or 
realized.  It  can  haxxlly  fail  to  stimulate  young  men  to  honorable  exertions,  and 
to  teach  them  that  extensive  notoriety  is  not  necessarily  itidicative  of  true  great- 
ness, and  also  that  too  eager  grasping  after  mere  political  distinction  or  after 
temporal  riches  is  far  less  desirable  than  linking  their  lives  to  immortal  princi- 
ples. No  sermon  could  be  more  potent  than  such  a  life  as  this,  illustrating  the 
fact  that  exalted  character  is  the  choicest  of  all  possessions,  bearing  ever  large 
interest  in  this  life,  and  likewise  in  the  life  hereafter. 


HON.    PHINEHAS    ADAMS.  171 


GENEALOGY. 


The  ^'  Phinehas  Adams'^  Branch  of  the  Adams  Family,  copied  from  the  Orig- 
inal Chart  prepared  hy  Elijah  Adams,  and  dated  Medfield,  May  2,  1798. 

HENRY  ADAMS,  Devonshire. 


Peter,  Joseph,  Henry,  ,  Edward,  Samuel,  Jonathan. 


Jonathan,  Henry,  James,  John.  Elisha,  Edward,  Elishab. 


Obadiah,    John,    Thomas,    Jeremiah,    Eleazer,    Abraham,    Daniel, 
Phinehas,  Edward. 


Benjamin,  John,  Eleazer,  Seth. 


John,  Jude,  Joel,  Phinehas,  James,  Elias.  Hezekiah,  Eleazer. 


Asahel,  Barzillai,  Phinehas,  William,  Lowell. 


Asahel,  Asahel,  Phinehas,  Asahel. 

j 

Phinehas. 


NATHANIEL  WHITE. 


The  ancestors  of  Nathaniel  White  were  among  the  hardy  pioneers  who 
settled  New  England  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  William  White,  the 
founder  of  the  family  in  this  country,  having  come  from  England  and  landed  at 
Ipswich,  Mass.,  in  1G;»5.  The  descendants  of  William  were  among  the  earliest 
settlers  of  northern  New  Hampshire. 

Nathaniel  White,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  oldest  child  of  Samuel  and 
8arah  (Freeman)  White,  was  born  in  Lancaster,  February  7,  1811.  His  child- 
hood was  passed  under  a  tender  mother's  care;  and  to  her  strict  religious  training 
he  was  indebted  for  the  noble  character  which  led  him  untainted  amid  the  temp- 
tations of  youth,  and  unspotted  through  a  long  career  of  usefulness.  At  home 
were  those  principles  of  integrity,  honesty,  temperance,  jdiilanthropy,  and  gener- 
osity inculcated  which  led  to  a  long  life  rounded  h)y  Christian  virtues,  adorned 
by  humanitarian  graces,  and  free  from  vices. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  went  into  the  employ  uf  a  merchant  of  Lunen- 
burg, Vt.,  vfith  whom  he  remained  about  one  year,  Avhen  he  accepted  employment 
with  Gen.  John  Wilson,  of  Lancaster,  who  was  just  entering  upon  his  duties  as 
landlord  of  the  Columbian  hotel  in  Concord.  His  parents  more  readily  con- 
sented to  his  taking  this  stej)  on  account  of  the  many  noble  qualities  of  Mrs. 
Wilson.  To  her  care  he  was  intrusted  by  his  solicitous  mother.  In  the  employ 
of  Glen.  Wilson,  Nathaniel  White  commenced  life  in  Concord  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder.  He  arrived  in  Concord,  August  25,  1826,  with  one  shilling  in  his 
pocket.  For  five  years,  or  until  he  came  of  age,  he  continued  at  the  Columbian, 
rendering  a  strict  account  of  his  wages  to  his  father,  and  saving  the  dimes  and 
quarters  which  came  as  perquisites,  until  by  his  twenty-first  birthday  he  had  a 
fund  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

In  1832  he  made  his  first  business  venture,  negotiating  the  first  and  last 
business  loan  of  his  life,  and  purchased  a  part  interest  in  the  stage  route  between 
Concord  and  Hanover,  and  occupying  the  "  box  "  himself  for  a  few  years.  In 
one  year  he  was  free  from  debt.  Soon  after,  he  bought  into  the  stage  route 
between  Concord  and  Lowell.  In  1838,  in  company  with  Capt.  William  Walker, 
he  initiated  the  express  business,  making  three  trips  weekly  to  Boston,  and  per- 
sonally attending  to  the  delivery  of  packages,  goods,  or  money,  and  other  business 
intrusted  to  him.  He  was  ever  punctual ;  he  never  forgot.  In  1842,  upon  the 
opening  of  the  Concord  Railroad,  he  was  one  of  the  original  partners  of  the 
express  company  which  was  then  organized  to  deliver  goods  throughout  New 
Hampshire  and  Canada.  The  company,  under  various  names,  has  continued  in 
successful  operation  to  the  present  day ;  and  to  Nathaniel  White's  business 
capacity  has  it  been  greatly  indebted  for  its  remarkable  financial  success. 

In  1846,  Mr.  White  purchased  his  farm,  and  has  cultivated  it  since  that 
date.  It  lies  in  the  southwestern  section  of  the  city,  two  miles  from  the  state- 
house,  and  embraces  over  four  hundred  acres  of  land.  For  his  adopted  home  he 
ever  felt  and  evinced  a  strong  attachment,  and  to  him  Concord  owes  much  of  her 


N^ATHANIEIi    WHITE.  173 

material  prosperity  and  outward  adornment.  Beautiful  structures  have  been 
raised  through  his  instrumentality,  which  render  the  capitol  and  the  State-House 
park  such  attractive  features  of  the  city. 

In  1852  he  made  his  first  step  in  political  life,  being  chosen  by  the  Whigs 
and  Free-soilers  to  represent  Concord  in  the  state  legislature.  He  was  an  Abo- 
litionist from  the  start ;  a  member  of  the  Anti-Slavery  society  from  its  inception. 
His  hospitable  home  was  the  refuge  of  many  a  hunted  slave,  —  a  veritable  station 
on  the  under-ground  railroad,  where  welcome,  care,  food,  and  money  were  freely 
bestowed,  and  the  refugees  were  sent  on  their  way  rejoicing.  The  attic  of  his 
house  and  the  hay-mows  of  his  stable  were  the  havens  of  rest  for  the  persecuted 
black  men. 

In  all  works  of  charity  and  philanthropy,  Mr.  White  was  foremost  or  promi- 
nent. He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  and  the  State  Reform  School ;  in  the  Orphans'  Home,  at 
Frankhn,  which  he  liberally  endowed  ;  and  the  Home  for  the  Aged,  in  Concord, 
which  was  his  special  care.  The  Reform  club  of  Concord,  though  not  an  elee- 
mosynary institution,  received  substantial  benefits  from  his  generosity  ;  and  to 
him,  in  a  great  measure,  it  owed  its  very  existence  during  the  re-action  which 
followed  the  first  enthusiasm. 

Besides  his  extensive  interest  in  the  express  company,  his  farm, —  which  is 
one  of  the  most  highly  cultivated  in  the  state, —  his  charming  summer  retreat  on 
the  borders  of  Lake  Sunapee,  and  his  real  estate  in  Concord,  he  was  interested 
in  real  estate  in  Chicago,  in  hotel  property  in  the  mountain  districts,  in  railroad 
corporations,  in  banks,  in  manufacturing  establishments,  and  in  shipping.  He 
was  a  director  in  the  Manchester  &  Lawrence,  the  Franconia  &  Profile  House, 
and  the  Mount  Washington  railroads,  and  in  the  National  State  Ca|)ital  Bank  ; 
a  trustee  of  the  Loan  and  Trust  Savings  Bank  of  Concord  ;  also  of  the 
Reform  School,  Home  for  the  Aged,  and  Orphans'  Home,  and  other  private  and 
public  trusts. 

In  1875,  Nathaniel  White  was  candidate  for  governor,  of  the  Prohibition 
party ;  and  he  had  a  vast  number  of  friends  in  the  Republican  party,  with  which 
he  was  most  closely  identified,  who  wished  to  secure  his  nomination  for  the 
highest  honor  within  the  gift  of  a  state,  by  the  Republican  party.  In  1876  he 
was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Cincinnati  convention,  which  nominated  Mr.  Hayes 
for  president.  During  the  summer  of  1880,  he  was  placed  by  his  party  at  the 
head  of  the  list  of  candidates  for  presidential  electors.  With  all  these  honors 
thrust  upon  him,  Nathaniel  White  was  not  a  politician,  although  firm  in  his  own 
political  convictions.     The  office  sought  the  man,  and  not  the  man  the  office. 

Nathaniel  White  was  blessed  in  his  marriage  relations.  His  history  is 
incomplete  without  a  narration  of  the  perfect  union,  complete  confidence,  and 
mutual  trust  and  assistance  between  him  and  his  wife,  during  a  married  life  of 
nearly  half  a  century.  November  1,  18.36,  he  was  married,  by  Rev.  Robert 
Bartlett,  of  Laconia,  to  Armenia  S.,  daughter  of  John  Aldrich,  of  Boscawen, 
who  survives  him.  Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White  is  of  good  old  Quaker  stock, 
descending,  in  the  sixth  generation,  from  Moses  Aldrich,  a  Quaker  preacher  who 
emigrated  to  this  country  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  settled  in  Rhode  Island  ; 
and  on  the  maternal  side,  from  Edward  Dotey,  a  pilgrim  who  landed  in  the  May- 
flower. She  was  born  November  1,  1817,  in  Mendon,  Mass.,  her  parents 
removing  from  Rhode  Island  at  the  time  of  their  marriage.  In  1830  she  went 
with  her  parents  to  Boscawen,  where  she  lived  until  her  marriage.  Mrs.  White 
has  been  her  husband's  companion  and  helper  in  every  good  work. 

Their  children  are  John  A.  White,  Armenia  E.  White,  wife  of  Horatio 
Hobbs,  Lizzie  H.  White,  Nathaniel  White,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin  C.  White,  who 


174  NATHANIEL    WHITE. 

survive.  They  lost  two  children,  —  Annie  Frances  and  Seldon  F. ;  and  adopted 
one,  —  Hattie  S.,  wife  of  Dr.  D.  P.  Dearborn,  of  Brattleborough,  Vt. 

In  early  life  Mr.  White  joined  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He 
belonged  to  no  other  secret  society.  Anti-slavery  societies,  temperance  societies, 
charitable  and  benevolent  societies,  woman  suffrage  and  e({ual  rights  societies,  and 
the  Universalist  society,  —  in  all  of  these  both  husband  and  wife  were  deeply 
and  equally  interested.  During  the  first  four  years  of  their  married  life,  on 
account  of  Mr.  White's  occupation,  they  boarded  ;  for  eight  years  they  lived  on 
Warren  street;  since  1848,  until  the  death  of  Mr.  White,  in  their  residence  on 
School  street.  Here  they  have  nu;ted  out  generous  and  refined  hospitality  to  the 
humble  slave,  the  unfortunate,  and  to  the  most  illustrious  guests  who  have 
honored  Concord  by  their  visits. 

Nathaniel  White  died  Saturday,  October  2,  1880,  having  nearly  completed 
the  allotted  span  of  three  score  years  and  ten.  He  was  stricken  down  suddenly, 
although,  with  his  usual  business  foresight,  he  seems  to  have  been  prepared  for 
the  change. 

Among  the  tributes  to  his  worth  which  were  called  out  by  his  death  was 
a  letter  by  Hon.  H.  P.  Rolfe,  which  presents  a  just  and  fair  estimate  of  his 
character,  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  remember  Mr.  White  even  before  you  became  acquainted  with  him.  I 
can  see  him  now,  as  in  the  early  morn,  in  the  dim  light  before  the  dawn  of  day, 
he  drove  up  over  the  frozen  hills  of  Boscawen,  through  the  drifting  snows,  buf- 
feting the  bleak  winds,  and  standing  erect  upon  the  footboard  of  his  sleigh,  with 
his  six  frost-covered  steeds  well  in  hand.  I  remember  him  as  in  the  late  after- 
noon or  early  evening  he  went  dashing  down  those  fearfully  steep  hills,  called 
"  Choate  and  Grerrish  hills,"  with  his  Concord  "coach  and  six,"  loaded  down 
with  sixteen  and  eighteen  passengers,  and  no  break  to  resist  the  fearful  pressure 
upon  a  single  pair  of  wheel-horses.  He  then  had  the  same  quiet,  reserved  manners 
that  marked  the  man  all  through  his  long,  busy,  and  useful  life.  There  was  no 
noise,  no  brag,  no  bluster,  no  profanity,  no  tobacco,  no  rum  !  He  was  mild  in 
speech,  pleasant  in  address,  gentle  in  conduct,  quiet  in  action,  diligent  in  busi- 
ness, constant  in  season  and  out,  and  faithful  to  all  his  trusts ;  and  every  thing 
he  did  came  fully  up  to  the  measure  of  his  responsibility. 

'  His  life  was  gentle  ;  and  tlie  elements 
So  mixed  in  liim,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  "  This  was  a  man."  ' 

"  The  wealth  he  possessed,  and  which  he  distributed  with  such  a  generous 
hand,  came  from  no  ancestral  estates.  He  made  his  wealth,  and  he  made  him- 
self, and  he  was  emphatically  ''  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune.'  He  honored 
his  father  and  his  mother,  and  his  days  were  lengthened  in  the  land  ;  and  if  he 
had  lived  till  the  17th  day  of  February,  1881,  he  would  have  filled  up  the 
number  of  days  which  the  Psalmist  has  assigned  to  manly  life.  His  example  in 
youth,  in  manhood,  and  in  mature  age  is  a  valuable  legacy  to  the  young  man 
who  shall  try  to  imitate  it. 

"To  his  wife  and  children  he  has  left  a  memory  as  fragrant  as  devotion, 
tenderness,  and  love  could  make  ;  and  in  the  hearts  of  his  other  kindred  he  has 
planted  a  grateful  remembrance,  which  will  find  a  habitation  there  as  long  as 
their  lives  shall  last.  The  beauty,  gentleness  and  sweetness  of  his  domestic  life 
were  only  appreciated  by  those  who  saw  him  at  home,  in  the  bosom  of  his 
family,  and  partook  of  his  genial  hospitality. 

'  Wife,  children,  and  neighbor  may  mourn  at  his  knell ; 
He  was  lover  and  friend  of  his  country  as  well.' 


NATHANIEL    WHITE.  175 

■'  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  insert  here  the  language  of  a  learned  and 
gifted  gentleman  who  knew  Mr.  White,  having  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
him  before  the  days  of  railroads,  while  he  was  driving  on  his  route  between 
Concord  and  Hanover.  I  refer  to  Prof.  Edwin  D.  Sanborn,  of  Dartmouth 
College,  who  used  frequently  to  ride  on  the  outside  of  the  coach  with  Mr. 
White.  The  following  sketch  was  published  in  the  Lebanon  Free  Press  in 
1859,  and  was  part  of  an  article  entitled  '  Good  Habits  the  Best  Capital  ot 
the  Young':  — 

'  I  know  a  gentleman,  now  residinor  at  the  capital  of  Xew  Hampshire,  who,  at  the  early 
age  of  fourteen,  left  the  paternal  roof  to  become  a  clerk  in  a  store.  Thirty  j-ears  ago  every 
store  was  a  grog-shop.  From  that  business  he  entered  a  hotel  in  a  large  town,  where  liquor 
was  also  sold.  The  inference  would  be,  with  most  persons,  that  such  positions  were  very 
unfavorable  to  temperate  habits.  Ruin  is  almost  inevitable  to  a  young  man  thus  exposed 
and  tempted.  In  the  case  alluded  to,  the  lad  served  his  apprenticeship,  and  saved  both  his 
money  and  character.  He  never,  in  a  single  instance,  tasted  liquor,  or  used  tobacco,  or 
handled  cards  or  dice.  He  passed  from  the  hotel  to  the  stageman's  box.  He  drove  a  coach 
from  Concord  to  Hanover  ten  years,  I  think.  Before  the  building  of  railroads  this  was  one 
of  the  most  exposed  routes  in  the  state.  The  day's  .iourney  was  long,  the  roads  were  bad, 
and  the  cold  was  often  intense.  It  was  the  common  practice  of  stagemen  to  fortify  them- 
selves against  the  cold  by  large  and  frequent  jjotations.  They  soon  lost  health  and  char- 
acter. They  were  a  short-lived  race  because  of  their  intempei-ance.  But  the  subject  of  my 
story  was  true  to  his  principles.  In  cold  and  heat  he  ab.stained.  He  resisted  all  solicita- 
tions, and  offended  nobody.  He  was  trusted  by  all,  suspected  by  none.  He  was  universally 
popular,  always  intelligent.  He  was  both  a  good  companion  and  an  honest  agent.  He 
never  forgot  a  commission,  never  violated  a  trust.  He  saved  his  wages,  and  supported  his 
parents,  who  needed  his  aid.  Multitudes  who  had  occasion  to  travel  that  weary  road  still 
remember  with  gratitude  the  pleasant  speech,  agreeable  deportment,  and  excellent  habits 
of  this  accomplished  stageman.  When  the  railroad  took  the  place  of  the  old  mail-coaches, 
the  trusted  and  confidential  agent  and  owner  of  "  the  old  line  "  was  employed  upon  the  new 
mode  of  locomotion.  He  soon  entered  into  the  express  business,  which  has  been  constantly 
increasing  in  extent  of  space  and  in  quantity  of  packages  from  the  first  journey  of  the  iron 
horse  till  this  hour.  The  honest  stageman  became  the  confidential  agent  of  thousands  who 
had  messages  or  property  to  be  conveyed  over  the  road.  With  the  increase  of  business 
came  increase  of  wealth.  He  was  no  lover  of  lucre.  Though  born  in  humble  circumstances, 
and  trained  to  habits  of  rigid  economy,  he  had  an  eye  for  improvements,. and  a  heart  for 
practical  beneficence.  He  acquired  property  easily,  and  he  gave  liberally.  Aged  parents 
and  needy  relatives  shared  his  liberality.  He  cared  for  the  friends  who  were  bound  to  him 
by  the  ties  of  blood  first,  and  then  for  such  acquaintances  as  needed  his  ready  aid.  From 
the  penniless  boy,  without  education,  ho  has  become  a  thril=ty  man  of  business,  bestowing 
thousands  of  his  hard-earned  treasures  upon  objects  of  charity  of  his  own  choice.  How 
valuable  is  a  character  thus  formed  and  matured!  Through  all  his  varied  life  he  has  never 
tasted  ardent  spirits,  or  used  tobacco  in  any  form.  He  ascribes  all  his  success  in  life  to 
his  early  determination  to  be  both  temperate  and  honest.  Such  an  example  deserves 
commendation  and  imitation." 

"  These  lines  were  written  in  1859  ;  and  more  than  a  score  of  years  of  use- 
fulness, of  duties,  of  benevolence,  of  affection,  and  of  honor  have  since  filled  up 
and  rounded  off  a  life  into  the  completeness  of  manhood.  When  he  was 
removed  from  earth,  death  claimed  a  dutiful  son,  a  tender  and  loving  husband, 
an  affectionate  father,  a  devoted  brother,  and  a  constant  friend. 

'•  Since  I  came  to  this  city,  death  has  been  constantly  busy  in  our  midst. 
None  of  us  who  have  lived  here  these  thirty  years  but  have  witnessed  its 
ravages,  snatching  from  many  of  us  our  dearest  treasures.  He  has  gathered  to 
himself  many  of  the  gifted  and  the  good,  whose  memories  are  still  fragrant ;  but 
the  sincere  tributes  to  the  memory  of  Nathaniel  White  have  never  been  equaled, 
I  fear  never  will  be.  No  person  in  New  Hampshire  has  ever  had  the  happy 
combination  of  means  and  disposition  to  bestow  such  noble  charities  as  he.  I 
feel  myself  privileged,  after  forty  years  of  constant  friendship,  to  unite  my  tears 


176  N^ATHANTEL    WIITTE. 

of  sorrow  and  sympathy  with  those  of  his  bereaved  family  and  afflicted  friends, 
and  to  lay  a  laurel  upon  the  freshly  made  grave  which  covers  one  of  earth's 
true  noblemen. 

"  How  well  he  filled  up  all  the  days  of  his  years  with  love  for  and  duty  to 
his  family,  his  kindred,  and  his  friends  ;  to  the  poor,  to  the  downtrodden,  to  the 
slave,  and  to  all  the  unfortunate  of  earth  !  He  claimed  no  right  or  privilege  for 
himself,  in  the  wide  domain  of  nature,  that  he  did  not  want  others  to  enjoy. 
Hence  he  insisted  always  that  the  nation  should  immediately  strike  the  shackles 
from  the  slave,  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  Never  himself  under  the  thral- 
dom of  rum  and  tobacco,  lie  wished  everybody  else  to  be  free  from  it.  He 
exercised  the  largest  liberty  himself,  and  enjoyed  perfect  freedom  of  thought  and 
action  in  religious,  political,  and  other  matters  ;  and  he  desired  every  man  and 
woman  to  do  the  same.  Hence,  when  he  arranged  his  worldly  matters,  he  gave 
the  ownership  and  sole  control  of  his  business  aifairs  into  the  hands  of  his  wife, 
with  whom  he  had  walked  life's  journey,  thereby  giving  signal  proof  of  his  sin- 
cerity that  the  wife  is  the  equal  of  the  husband  in  the  sight  of  Grod,  and  should 
be  in  the  love,  esteem,  and  regard  of  man.  He  often  said  that  the  wife,  in  the 
event  of  the  husband's  death,  should  maintain  the  same  rights  and  the  same 
relation  to  the  family  that  the  husband  would  if  the  wife  were  taken  away.  In 
his  will  he  made  her  responsible  to  no  court  or  other  tribunal.  She  was  only 
required  to  make  proof  of  his  will,  in  order  that  the  ownership  of  all  his  prop- 
erty should  vest  in  her.  In  ail  this  he  recognized  the  rights  of  womanhood  as 
well  as  the  rights  of  manhood.  In  this  way  he  gave  proof  of  his  lielief  that  the 
twain,  man  and  wife,  are  one  flesh. 

''  The  Centennial  Home  for  the  Aged  was  the  apple  of  his  eye ;  and  yet  he 
made  no  large  bequests  to  it  himself,  having  perfect  assurance  that  the  wife, 
who  had  borne  life's  burdens  with  him,  and  shared  his  devotion  to  this  noble 
benevolence,  would  be  equally  the  author  of  her  own  charities  and  the  almoner 
of  his.  As  a  business  man  and  a  citizen,  his  reputation  ripened  by  integrity. 
It  was  beautified  by  sincere  sympathy  for  the  poor  and  the  downtrodden  ;  it  was 
embellished  by  his  generous  charities ;  and  it  was  endeared  by  his  gentle  and  win- 
ning manners.  AVhen  his  final  summons  came,  he  had  filled  out  a  life  of  rare 
usefulness  and  of  singvilar  success. 

"  Mr.  White  was  fifty-four  years  a  resident  of  Concord.  In  every  thing  that 
made  for  her  welfare  he  was  always  the  foremost  citizen.  Many  others  did 
nobly,  but  he  exceeded  them  all.  In  a  single  matter  that  vitally  aff"ected  the 
city  of  Concord,*  in  which  the  writer  was  engaged,  and  in  which  liberal  expen- 
ditures were  needed,  he  contributed  more  than  all  the  others  combined ;  and  I 
make  mention  of  this  because  the  people  of  Concord  should  know  of  his 
liberality,  about  which  he  rarely  ever  ^poke  and  never  boasted. 

"  In  all  his  aspirations  to  make  himself  an  honorable  name,  and  to  do  good 
to  his  kindred,  his  friends,  his  country,  and  his  race,  Mr.  White  was  most  fortu- 
nate and  happy  in  that  he  had  the  early  suggestion,  the  prompt  encouragement, 
the  ready  co-operation,  and  the  ardent  sympathy  of  her  who  for  nearly  half 
a  century  kept  his  home  constantly  blooming  with  the  sweet-scented  flowers 
of  aff"ection. 

"  Farewell,  noble  spirit ! 

'  Thou  'rt  bui-icfl  in  liglit : 
(jod  spped  unto  hcavon,  lost  st.ir  n1'  our  uin'it !  ' 

We  dismiss  thee,  not  to  the  tomb  of  forgetfulness  and  death,  but  to  a  blessed 
memory,  an  unclouded  fame,  and  to  a  limitless  life." 

*The  retention  of  the  state-house. 


'  C^~^i^-Z>c^Stu 


FRANCIS  COGSWELL. 


Francis  Cogswell  was  born  in  Atkinson,  December  21,  1800.  He  died 
at  his  home  in  Andover,  Mass..  February  11,  1880.  His  death  closed  a  long, 
honorable,  and  useful  career.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  strong, 
steadfast,  and  true.  Grod  gave  him  talents  of  a  high  order,  and  he  improved 
them  all.  He  was  honest,  not  from  policy,  but  because  it  was  his  nature  to  be. 
His  ambitions  never  clouded  his  convictions  of  duty,  nor  swerved  him  from  the 
path  which  his  high  sense  of  probity  and  honor  pointed  out ;  and,  after  more 
than  fifty  years  of  business  activity,  and  association  with  thousands  of  people  in 
almost  every  relation  in  life,  he  could  say,  as  he  did  :  "  I  die  contented.  I  have 
no  ill  will  towards  any  one,  and  I  know  of  no  reason  why  any  one  should  have 
any  ill  will  against  me.'"  He  loved  his  family  with  a  love  that  never  wearied  and 
never  forgot ;  which  dared  all  things,  suffered  all  things,  did  all  things,  that  could 
make  for  their  comfort  and  happiness.  He  loved  his  books.  He  was  a  stanch 
friend,  a  kind  neighbor,  and  a  generous  citizen,  who  never  left  to  others  the 
duties  he  could  discharge.  In  business,  he  was  sagacious  without  being  a 
schemer,  patient  and  industrious  without  being  a  slave.  He  had  judgment, 
foresight,  and  reliability ;  and  he  worked  his  way  to  success  openly,  steadily,  and 
surely.     He  died  universally  respected  and  widely  and  sincerely  mourned. 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  the  son  of  Dr.  William  Cogswell,  the  son  of  Nathaniel 
Cogswell  of  Atkinson,  who  was  born  July  11,  1760,  and  was  married  to  Judith 
Badger,  July  22,  1786.  the  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Badger,  senior,  of 
Grilmanton,  N.  H.,  born  May  15.  1766,  whose  children  were  as  follows: 

William,  born  June  5,  1787;  Julia,  born  February  20,  1789;  Hannah  Pear- 
son, born  July  6.  1791 ;  Joseph  Badger,  born  August  30,  1793;  Nathaniel,  born 
March  5,  1796;  Thomas,  born  December  7,  1798;  Francis,  born  December  21, 
1800;  George,  born  February  5,  1808;  John,  born  February  14,  1810,  and 
died  August  6,  1811. 

Julia  Cogswell  was  married  to  Greenleaf  Clarke,  of  Atkinson,  March  1, 
1810.  They  were  the  parents  of  William  Cogswell  Clarke  and  John  Badger 
Clarke,  who  are  sketched  elsewhere  in  this  book. 

Hannah  Pearson  Cogswell  married  William  Badger,  of  Gilmanton,  who  was 
afterwards  governor  of  New  Hampshire.  Their  children  are  Col.  Joseph  and 
Capt.  William,  of  the  U.  S.  army. 

Joseph  Badger  Cogswell  was  married  to  Judith  Peaslee,  October,  1817. 
They  had  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters:  William  is  a  successful 
physician  in  Bradford,  Mass. ;  Francis  has  been  a  very  popular  teacher,  and 
is  now  superintendent  of  schools  in  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  and  Thomas  is  a  dentist 
in  Boston. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Cogswell  married  Susan  Doane,  October,  1825.  He  was  a  set- 
tled clergyman  at  Yarmouth,  Mass.,  a  man  of  great  influence,  and  his  son  John 
B.  D.  Cogswell  has  been  speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  house  of  representatives. 

William,  Thomas,  and  George  Cogswell  are  sketched  in  this  book. 


178  FRANCIS     COGSWELL. 

Francis  Cogswell  received  his  early  education  in  the  public  schools  and  at 
Atkinson  Academy,  from  which  he  entered  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  gradu- 
ated with  honor  in  the  class  of  1822.  Selecting  the  law  for  his  profession,  he 
prepared  himself  for  admission  to  the  bar  at  Exeter,  was  admitted  in  1827,  and 
commenced  practice  in  Tuftonborough,  N.  H.,  the  same  year.  He  removed,  in 
1828,  to  Ossipee.  In  1833  he  removed  to  Dover,  and  was  appointed  clerk  of  the 
court  in  Strafford  county.  Nine  years  later  he  located  at  Andover,  Mass.,  and 
became  treasurer  of  the  Ballardvale  Woolen  Company. 

May  16,  1845,  he  was  chosen  cashier  of  the  Andover  bank,  to  which  institu- 
tion he  devoted  himself  with  great  fidelity  until  he  was  called  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad,  in  185G.  In  this  position,  his  systematic 
methods,  untiring  industry,  ability  to  manage  men,  careful  regard  for  the  public 
and  respect  for  its  opinions,  and  stern  integrity  asserted  themselves,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  the  corporation  and  the  approval  of  its  patrons ;  and  his  resig- 
nation, which  he  tendered  in  18G2,  caused  wide-spread  regrets,  which  grew  more 
and  more  pronounced  until  1865,  when  he  yielded  to  the  general  demand  and 
accepted  a  re-election.  His  second  term  lasted  until  1871,  when  he  felt  com- 
pelled to  lay  down  the  heavy  burdens  inseparable  from  the  office,  and  retire 
from  active  life. 

In  addition  to  these,  Mr.  Cogswell  held  many  other  public  and  private  trusts 
of  great  responsibility,  in  all  of  which  his  sterling  qualities  were  quietly  but 
eff"ectively  asserted.  He  was  a  director  of  the  Andover  bank  for  twenty  years; 
treasurer  of  the  Marland  Manufacturing  Company  for  twenty-two  years ;  a 
trustee  of  Gilmanton  and  Atkinson  academics,  and  of  the  Punchard  free  school 
at  Andover ;  an  overseer  of  Harvard  College ;  and  senior  warden  of  the  Epis- 
copal church  at  Andover,  where  he  was  a  constant  worshiper  for  many  years. 
Many  private  properties  were  also  committed  to  his  care;  and  his  advice  was 
constantly  in  demand  by  his  neighbors  and  acquaintances. 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  a  man  of  pronounced  political  views,  but  would  never 
accept  political  honors.  Prior  to  the  war  he  was  a  Democrat ;  but  the  attempt  of 
the  southern  slaveholders  to  destroy  the  Union  made  him  an  earnest  Republican, 
and  one  of  the  strongest  supporters  of  the  loyal  cause.  He  was  chairman  of 
Andover's  war  committee,  and  gave  liberally  of  his  means  to  her  soldiers  and 
their  families. 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  married,  June  8,  1829,  to  Mary  S.  Marland,  daughter  of 
Abraham  Marland,  of  Andover,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children.  Three  of 
these  —  John  F.  Cogswell,  of  Andover,  at  the  head  of  the  well  known  and  very 
successful  express  company  of  Cogswell  &  Co.,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  Thomas  M. 
Cogswell,  of  Lawrence,  engaged  in  the  same  business  as  his  brother,  and  Mary 
M.,    wife  of  William  Hobbs,  Esq.,  of  Brookline,  Mass., —  are  living. 


^ 


'^.^  ^,  ^^-^ 


HON.  .[OSEPH  BOND  CLARK. 


Joseph  Bond  Clark,  son  of  Samuel  and  Betsey  (Clement)  Clark,  was 
born  at  Gilford,  N.  H.,  June  21,  1823.  He  had  four  brothers  and  four  sisters, 
of  whom  two  survive,  —  Samuel  C,  a  lawyer  at  Lake  Village,  and  Hannah  B., 
widow  of  the  late  >yilliam  G.  Hoyt,  of  Moultonborough.  At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen he  began  a  preparatory  coui'se  of  study  at  New  Hampton  Literary  Institu- 
tion, and,  after  three  years,  entered  Brown  University  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in 
18-44,  and  graduated  in  1848.  He  then  spent  six  years  teaching  in  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Hampshire,  meanwhile  ([ualifying  himself  for  the  profession  of 
law,  some  time  with  the  Hon.  Asa  Fowler,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  with  Stej^hen 
C.  Lyford,  of  Laconia,  from  whose  office  he  was  admitted  to  the  Belknap-county 
bar  in  1853.  He  however  continued  for  two  years  longer  principal  of  the 
Wolfeborough  Academy,  and  then  removed  to  Manchester,  N.  H. 

Mr.  Clark  was  soon  recognized  as  a  moving  force  among  men,  was  made  city 
solicitor  in  1858-59,  representative  in  the  legislature  from  ward  one  in  1859-60, 
and  was  appointed  solicitor  for  Hillsborough  county  in  1861  and  again  in  1866, 
holding  the  office  ten  years  in  all.  In  the  midst  of  his  varied  activities  the  war 
broke  out ;  he  was  commissioned  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  Col. 
Walter  Harriman,  and  went  to  the  front  to  assist  in  putting  down  the  rebellion. 
In  March  of  the  succeeding  year  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and 
was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderne.ss,  May  6,  1864.  He  remained  with 
his  regiment  until  the  close  of  the  war.  and  was  mustered  out  of  service  in  June, 
1865.  In  1867  he  was  mayor  of  the  city  of  Manchester.  He  has  been  a  director 
in  the  Merrimack  River  Bank  (now  First  National )  and  trustee  of  the  Merrimack 
River  Savings  Bank,  since  their  organization,  and  is  a  director  of  the  Nashua, 
Acton,  &  Boston  Railroad  and  of  the  Manchester  Horse-Railroad.  He  was  for 
several  years  a  director  of  the  First  Baptist  society  of  Manchester,  and  chair- 
man of  the  building  committee,  which  erected  probably  the  finest  church  of  that 
denomination  in  the  state. 

In  1878-79  he  represented  ward  three  in  the  legislature,  and  was  chairman 
of  the  finance  committee ;  and  was  a  member  and  clerk  of  the  committee  for 
the  erection  of  the  soldiers'  monument  in  Manchester  in  1879.  He  married, 
September  12,  1862,  Mrs.  Mary  Jane  (Peabody)  Smith,  daughter  of  James  H. 
and  Roxana  Peabody,  of  Manchester.  She  died  August  15,  1873,  leaving  two 
children,  —  Mary  P.  and  Joseph  M. 

This  record,  so  brief  and  yet  so  full,  will  suggest  better  than  any  words  the 
general  estimation  of  Mr.  Clark  among  those  who'know  him.  Undemonstrative 
and  quiet  in  his  manner,  cautioiLs  and  prudent  in  action,  simple  and  temperate  in 
habit,  he  is,  above  all,  a  thoughtful  and  patriotic  citizen,  whose  vote  is  given  for 
the  best  measures,  and  whose  example  lends  force  to  his  words.  Conservative  by 
nature,  he  is  yet  not  slow  to  place  himself  on  the  side  of  equal  justice  and  truth. 


HON.  GEORGE  W.  NESMITH. 


[from    history    of    ANTRIM,  BY    REV.    W.    R.    roCTIRANK.] 


JAMES  NESMITH,  one  of  tho  signers  of  the  memorial  to  Gov.  Shuto.  March 
26,  1718,  and  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Londonderry,  was  also  one  of  the  origi- 
nal sixteen  that  first  struck  for  settlement  on  the  soil  of  that  ancient  town,  April 
22,  1719.  He  was  a  strong  man,  worthy  of  respect,  and  honored  hy  his  asso- 
ciates. Was  appointed  elder  of  the  West  Parish  Prcshyterian  church,  at  its 
formation  in  1739.  The  date  of  his  death  was  1767,  and  his  age  seventy-five. 
He  married,  in  Ireland,  in  1714,  Elisaheth,  daughter  of  James  McKeen  and 
Janet  Cochran.  This  Elisabeth  McKeen  was  si.ster  of  Janet  McKeen,  Dea. 
Isaac  Cochran's  mother.  She  died  in  1763,  aged  sixty-seven.  The  Nesmiths 
lived  in  the  valley  of  the  Bann  in  Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  that  place  from 
Scotland  in  169(1.  Dea.  James  Nesmith  had  two  children  in  Ireland,  and  seems 
to  have  buried  the  eldest  child  there.  Seven  children  were  born  to  them  in 
America.  The  names  of  all  were  :  Arthur,  buried  in  infancy  in  Ireland  ;  James, 
born  in  Ireland  in  1718;  Arthur,  born  in  Londonderry  April  3,  1721  ;  Jean, 
born  March  12,  1723;  Mary,  born  Jan.  24,  1726;  John,  born  Feb.  11,  1728; 
Elisabeth,  born  Jan.  8,  1730;  Thomas,  born  March  26,  1732;  Benjamin,  born 
Sept.  14,  1734. 

James  Nesmith,  Jr.,  the  son  born  in  Ireland,  was  born  early  in  1718,  just 
before  embarking  for  America,  and  was  brought  over  in  his  mother's  arms.  He 
married  Mary  Dinsmore  and  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  Londonderry. 
Though  an  old  man  when  the  Revolutionary  war  broke  out.  he  went  with  all  his 
heart  into  the  struggle  against  the  British  ;  marched  among  the  minute-men  at 
the  first  call,  and  was  a  participant  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  He  had  chil- 
dren:  James,  Jonathan,  Robert,  Elisabeth,  3Iary,  and  Sarah;  and  died  where  he 
settled,  July  15,  1793.  Of  these  six  children,  we  will  only  say  as  follows: 
James,  the  oldest,  was  born  in  1^44 ;  married  Mary  McClure  (Parker's  History 
is  wrong  in  saying  Martha)  ;  was  elder  in  the  West  Parish  church  ;  left  chil- 
dren,—  William  M.,  Robert,  Isaac,  James,  Martha,  Jane  W.,  and  Margaret, — 
of  whom  William  M.,  the  first  named,  married  Harriet  Willis,  and  Avas  father  of 
Hon.  James  W.  Nesmith,  long  U.  S.  Senator  from  Oregon.  Senator  Nesmith 
was  born  in  1820,  married  Pauline  GofFe  in  1846.  and  now  lives  in  wealth  and 
honor  at  Dixie,  Ore.  The  second  child  of  James,  Jr.,  was  Jonathan  of  Antrim; 
Robert,  the  third  child,  married  Jane  Anderson  ;  Elisabeth,  the  fourth  child,  mar- 
ried James  Cochran  of  Windham;  Mary,  the  fifth  child,  married  James  McClure 
of  Acworth  ;  and  Sarah,  the  sixth,  married  Daniel  Anderson  of  Londonderry. 

Returning  now  to  Arthur,  the  third  child  of  Dea.  James  the  emigrant,  we 
have  to  say  that  he  was  born  April  3,1721.  He  married  Margaret  Hopkins, 
and  settled  in  the  south  part  of  Londonderry  ;  but  in  later  life  he  moved  to  the 
state  of  Maine.  He  had  two  sons  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  one  of  whom, 
John,  was  a  captain  noted  for  valor  and  strength,  but  died  near  the  close  of  the 


£lco.wr 


HON.    GEORGE    W.    JS^ESMITH.  181 

war  from  efi'ects  df  excessive  exposure  and  hardship.  Of  Jean  and  Mary,  daugh- 
ters of  the  first  Dea.  James,  I  know  nothing.  But  John,  the  sixth  child  of  the 
emigrant,  married  Elisabeth,  sister  of  Oren.  George  Reed  of  Londonderry,  settled 
on  the  first  Nesmith  homestead  with  his  father,  and  died  there  in  1815,  aged 
eighty-seven.  His  children  were  :  James  of  Antrim  ;  Arthur  of  Antrim  ;  John, 
Jr.,  who  married,  first,  Susan  Hildreth,  and,  second,  Lydia  Sargent,  and  died  on 
the  homestead  in  Londonderry  in  1844:;  Ebenezer,  who  married  Jane  Trotter; 
Thomas  ;  Elisabeth,  who  married  Dea.  James  Pinkerton  ;  Mary,  who  married 
John  Miltimore,  moving  to  Reading,  Penn. ;  and  Jane,  who  married  Hugh 
Anderson.  Of  Elisabeth,  the  emigrant's  seventh  child,  I  have  no  data.  Thomas, 
the  eighth  child,  was  born  March  'Zii.  1732  ;  married  Annis  Wilson,  and  settled 
in  Londonderry  (now  the  north  part  of  Windham),  and  had  three  children : 
John,  Elisabeth,  and  Thomas,  Jr.  Of  Benjamin,  the  ninth  child  of  the  first 
Dea.  James,  I  have  no  information  of  importance  in  the  present  undertaking. 

JONATHAN  NESMITH,  second  child  of  James  and  Mary  (Dinsmore) 
Nesmith,  and  grandson  of  the  proprietor  Dea.  James,  was  born  in  Londonderry, 
in  August,  1759.  He  came  here  in  May,  1774,  and  began  to  clear  the  farm  that 
remained  in  possession  of  the  family  until  18G5.  He  made  successive  clearings 
each  year,  and  with  vigorous  hand  put  up  his  log  cabin,  —  though  only  a  boy  of 
sixteen  years  when  he  began.  He  permanently  moved  here  in  1778.  He  sub- 
sequently had  to  pay  for  the  most  of  his  land  a  second  time.  Was  one  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  town.  Was  eleven  years  selectman,  and  was  four  times 
chosen  representative  of  the  town.  Was  always  on  important  committees,  and 
was  known  and  confided  in  by  all.  He  was  chosen  one  of  the  elders  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  at  its  formation  in  1778,  though  only  twenty-nine  years  of 
age.  For  fifty  years  he  only  failed  of  officiating  at  one  communion.  Dea.  Nes- 
mith was  a  man  of  great  sociality,  —  up  to  jokes, — genial  ,  jolly,  and  good- 
natured  ;  was  very  hospitable  and  benevolent ;  anxious  for  the  public  welfare ; 
stoutly  in  earnest  to  maintain  the  faith  of  his  fathers  ;  a  man  of  strong  ability,  good 
judgment,  and  irreproachable  character.  He  was  an  honor  to  the  town  he  helped 
to  establish.  His  death  occurred  Oct.  15,  1845,  aged  eighty-six.  His  first  wife 
was  Elenor  Dickey,  whom  he  married  in  1781.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Adam 
and  Jane  ( Strahan)  Dickey  of  Londonderry,  and  granddaughter  of  John  and 
Margaret  Dickey,  of  Londonderry,  Ireland.  She  was  born  Jan.  1,  1761,  and 
died  Sept.  17,  1818.  He  married,  second,  Mrs.  Sarah  (Wetherbee)  HambHn,  of 
Concord,  Mass.  She  was  twelve  years  of  age  when  she  witnessed  the  battle  of 
Lexington  and  Concord  from  her  father's  door.  She  saw  those  brave  men  fall, 
remembered  everything,  and  was  always  fond  of  telling  of  those  first  blows  for 
liberty.  She  died  Jan.  16.  1852,  aged  eighty-nine.  Dea.  Nesmith's  cabin  was 
burned  one  day  when  the  family  were  absent ;  and  he  used  to  remark,  in  after 
years,  that  he  never  felt  so  poor  as  then.  Yet,  undismayed,  he  went  about  build- 
ing another,  being  generously  aided  by  neighbors  he  had  himself  always  been  for- 
ward to  help.  After  several  years  he  put  up  a  substantial  framed  house,  which 
was  burned  March  4,  1841,  from  a  spark  catching  on  the  roof.  In  his  old  age 
Dea.  Nesmith  resigned  his  office  in  the  church ;  and  it  is  spoken  of  as  a  remark- 
able scene,  when  he  stood  in  the  public  assembly  and  offered  his  resignation,  and 
then,  with  trembling  voice  and  with  uplifted  and  palsied  hand,  invoked  God's 
blessing  on  his  successors  in  coming  time.      His  children  were  :  — 

1.  James,  b.  Oct.  5,  1783  ;  m.  Polly  Taylor  April  10,  1810  ;  cleared  and  set- 
tled west  of  the  pond  and  west  of  the  Steele  place,  on  land  now  George 
Brown's, — often  called  the  Boyd   place  ;  went  thence  to   Solon,  N.  Y.,  in 


182  HON^.    GEOKGE   W.    NESMITH. 

1822,  with  six  children.     There  his  wife  d.  in  1846.     In   1852  he  m.   2d, 

Mrs.  Susan  Clark  ;  moved  to  Waukon,  lo.,  and  d.  there  in   1862.     He  had 

children :  — 
3fari/,  (]-).  in  1811  ;  d.  in  infancy.) 
Mari/  IJ.,  (b.  in    1812  ;  m.  John  Stillman  of  Cortlandville,  N.  Y.,  in  1888  ; 

went  to  Waukon,  lo.,  in  1857,  where  they  now  live.) 
Rev.  John    T.  G.,  (b.  in  1814;  studied  at   Cazenovia  Seminary;  m.  Harriet 

N.  Taylor ;  entered  the  Methodist  ministry ;  was  a  faithful  and  able  man  ; 

d.  while  pastor,  at  the  age  of  86.) 
Hannah  E.^  (h.  in  1816;  m.  John  Reed;  moved  to    Waukon,    lo.,  in    1857, 

and  d.  there  in  1877.) 
Ahigail  S.,  (b.  in  1818;  became  second  wife  of  Isaac  Barker  in  1847  ;   went 

to  Waukon,  lo.,  in  1854.) 
Mark  W.,  (h.  in  1820  ;  d.  unm.,  at  Solon,  N.  Y.,  in  1848.) 
James  A.,  (b.  in  1822  ;  carried  to  Solon,  N.  Y.,  when  an  infant;  went  thence 

to  Illinois  in  1844  ;  m.  Laura  Post.) 
George  W.,  (b.  in  Solon,  N.  Y.,  in  1825  ;  m.  Mary  C.  Farrar  of  Fairtield,  Vt.; 

resides  at  Waukon,  lo.) 
Dr.  Milton  IT.,  (b.  in  1828 ;  m.  Margaret  Donoughue   in   1852 ;  is  now  phy- 
sician and  druggist  at  Waukon,  lo.) 
Woodbury  I^.,  (by  second  wife  ;  b.  in  1852;  remains  at  Solon,  N.  Y.) 

2.  Jean,  now   called  "  Jane,"    or    "  Jenny ; "    b.   May  14,   1787  ;    m.  John 

Dunlap,  June  26,  1807,  and  d.  March  29,  1885. 

3.  Thomas  D.,  b.  March  22,  1789  ;  m.  Martha  Weeks,  March  80,  1813 ;  suc- 

ceeded his  father  on  the  homestead.  His  first  wife  d.  in  1828,  aged  85,  and 
he  m.  2d,  Nancy  Gregg,  Feb.  4,  1880.  He  d.  Sept.  10,  1841,  aged  52. 
The  second  wife  d.  Feb.  9,  1856,  aged  68.  He  was  known  in  town  as 
"  Capt.  Nesmith ; "  was  captain  of  the  "  Antrim  Grenadiers,"  and  was  often 
marshal  of  the  day  on  special  occasions.  He  was  a  useful  man,  and  d.  in  his 
prime.     His  children  were  :  — 

Robert  W.,  (h.  May  3,  1814;  m.  Olive  Dunlap  of  Bedford,  June  1,  1839; 
settled  in  Jefferson,  Tex.,  and  d.  at  Sulphur  Springs  in  that  state,  Nov.  28, 
1866.  He  left  two  davighters  :  Oriette,  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Railroad 
office,  Boston ;  and  Sally  V.,  who  m.  Com.  Decatur  Morris,  and  lives  in 
Little  Rock,  Ark.) 

Jonathan,  (b.  Jan.  24,  1816  ;  m.  Marietta  F.  Morrill  of  Franklin,  Nov.  15, 
1841  ;  inherited  the  homestead  of  his  father  and  grandfather,  sold  the  same 
in  1865,  and  two  or  three  years  later  moved  to  Hancock,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. He  was  the  last  of  the  name  in  town.  At  one  time  there  were  three 
Dea.  Nesmiths  in  town,  known  as  "  Dea.  James,"  "  Dea.  Arthur,"  and 
"Dea.  Jonathan,"  and  they  each  had  nine  children,  —  making,  with  sisters 
and  friends,  nearly  forty  by  that  name  in  this  place.  Jonathan's  children 
are  :  Jennie  M.,  who  was  b.  Sept.  23,  1842,  —  an  excellent  teacher  ;  Thomas 
S.,  who  was  b.  May  12,  1846,  and  d.  at  the  age  of  three  years ;  Fannie  H., 
who  was  b.  Dec.  8,  1848,  and  m.  Frank  H.  Baldwin,  June  19,  1876,  resid- 
ing in  Keene ;  Annie  M.  T.,  who  was  b.  Sept.  12,  1852  ;  Abbie  Isabel,  who 
was  b.  Nov.  15,  1854,  and  d.  1856  ;  Miles  G.,  who  was  b.  Sept.  26,  1857; 
Addie  M.,  who  was  b.  Jan.  27,  1860  ;  and  John  S.,  who  was  b.  May  5, 
1863.) 

Sarah  E.,  (b.  Dec.  24,  1818,  m.  John  W.  Buttrick,  and  lives  in  Lawrence, 
Mass.) 

Miles,  (h.  Feb.  2,  1821  ;  went  to  California  in  1849,  and  was  driver  for  the 
California  Stage  Company ;  the  horses  became  unmanageable,  and  the  whole 


HON.    GEORGE    W.    NESMITH.  183 

team  was  thrown  down  a  fearful  precipice  near  Virginia  City,  Nov.,  by  which 

the  driver,  all  the  horses,  and  most  of  the  passengers   were  instantly  killed. 

This  sad  event  occurred  in  December,  1862.) 
Harriet   F.,  (b.  Feb.  2,  1823,   m.    Walker  Flanders,   and  lives   in   Lawrence 

Mass.) 
Martha  J.,  (b.  June  9,  1825;  m.   Isaac   P.   Cochran   of  Windham,  Nov.  12. 

1846.) 
Melviri,  (b.  Dec.  20,  1830  ;  d.  in  Sacramento,  Cal.,  Dec.  31,  1853.) 
Eiram  G.,  (b.  Feb.  18,  1833;  d.  in  Jefferson,  Tex.,  in  1857.) 
Nancy  E.,  (b.  Jan.  24,  1836,  m.  Josiah  Melville,  and  lives  in  Nelson.) 

4.  Adam,  b.  March  5,  1792  ;  m.  Rebecca  Dale  ;  settled  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  and 

d.  Jan.  15.  1865. 

5.  Mary  D.,   "  Molly  Dinsmore  "  on  town  record,  b.  April   11,    1794;    called 

"  Long  Mary,"  being  tall  in  form  ;  a  talented,  respected,  and  Christian  wo- 
man ;  d.  unm.  April  6,  1874. 

6.  Margaret,  b.  May  4, 1796 ;  d.  unra.  in  1827. 

7.  Isabel,  b.  March  6,- 1798;  d.  unm.  March  8, 1862. 

8.  Hon.  George  W.,  b.  Oct.  23,  1800  ;  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College 

in  1820;  m.  Mary  M.  Brooks;  settled  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Franklin  ; 
was  long  judge  of  the  New  Hampshire  supreme  court,  remaining  on  the 
bench  until  relieved  by  the  constitutional  limitation  of  years.  Is  now  presi- 
dent of  the  N.  H.  Orphans'  Home,  and  trustee  of  Dartmouth  College  ;  is  a 
man  of  noble  principles  and  honored  life,  enjoying  in  his  old  age  the  high- 
est confidence  and  esteem  of  men.  The  degTee  of  LL.  D.  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  Dartmouth  College.  He  stands  among  the  best  and  noblest 
of  the  sons  of  New  Hampshire,  and  is  an  honor  to  his  native  town. 


CHARLES  MARSH. 


Yankee  courage,  integrity,  and  judgment  have  won  no  more  substantial  or 
more  splendid  triumphs  in  the  business  world  than  are  reflected  from  the  dry-goods 
palace  of  Jordan,  Mjxrsh,  &  Co.,  a  house  whose  grand  successes  have  made  it 
famous  throughout  the  mercantile  world.  The  foundations  of  this  magnificent 
establishment  were  laid  in  1851  and  1852,  by  three  young  men,  two  of  whom 
were  natives  of  New  Hampshire.  The  head  of  the  firm,  Eben  D.  Jordan,  when 
fourteen  years  old  had  gone  up  to  Boston  from  his  home  in  Maine,  and  began  his 
business  career  as  an  errand  boy,  and  in  a  short  time  had  been  promoted  to  a 
clerkship,  in  which  position  he  made  himself  master  of  the  dry-goods  business, 
and  while  doing  it  became  ac<[uainted  with  two  other  young  men,  Benjamin  L. 
and  Charles  Marsh,  who  had  left  their  father's  house  in  Chesterfield,  N.  H., 
and  sought  in  Boston  an  opening  in  which  pluck,  push,  and  perseverance,  unaided 
by  influential  friends  or  unearned  capital,  could  carry  them  on  to  success. 

In  1852,  Messrs.  Jordan  and  Benjamin  L.  Marsh  established  the  firm  of 
Jordan,  Marsh,  &  Co.,  and  the  next  year  Charles  Marsh,  tlien  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  Pearl,  Smith,  &  Co.,  was  admitted  as  a  partner.  The  house  began  in  a 
small  way ;  it  had  behind  it  little  but  the  splendid  counxge  and  the  remarkable 
abilities  of  the  three  young  partners ;  but  these  were  sufiicient  to  win  a  fair  share 
of  business,  and  a  reputation  which  was  better  than  mimey,  and  in  a  short  time 
it  was  firmly  established  in  the  confidence  of  the  mercantile  world  and  the  good 
will  of  the  public.  In  eight  years  the  business  had  grown  to  two  million  dollars 
per  annum,  and  since  that  time  it  has  steadily  and  rapidly  increased,  until  the 
firm  controls  the  dry-goods  market  of  New  England,  and.  in  many  lines,  of  the 
entire  country. 

The  elder  Marsh  died  in  1856,  leaving  his  partners  to  carry  on  and  com- 
plete the  grand  enterprises  he  had  helped  project  and  begin.  His  brother  still 
remains  to  share  with  Mr.  Jordan  the  triumphs  of  the  firm.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  business,  Charles  Marsh  was  an  active  salesman,  and  was  accounted  one  of 
the  best  ever  known  in  Boston.  Afterwards,  he  took  charge  of  the  wholesale 
department,  which  has  since  been  and  still  is  under  his  personal  supervision. 

In  conmiercial  circles  and  in  the  store  he  has  a  clearly  defined  and  high  rank 
as  a  manager,  with  rare  combination  of  talents.  His  coolness,  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  business,  his  level-headed  judgment,  and  organizing  and  execu- 
tive capacity  are  a})undantly  attested  in  the  great  and  rapid  growth  of  the  whole- 
sale business.  He  is  a  balanced  man  ;  and  how  necessary  this  quality  is  to  success 
in  an  enterprise  of  this  magnitude,  only  those  who  have  seen  houses  go  to  wreck 
for  lack  of  it  can  tell.  The  elements  of  personal  popularity  in  his  character,  and 
his  extensive  acquaintance  throughout  the  country,  help  to  explain  his  success. 
For  nearly  thirty  years  his  steady  hand  has  been  felt  at  the  helm,  and  yet  he 
seems  to-day  only  in  the  prime  of  his  powers. 


LL 


(Xy'^y^^  l^Le^^^ 


HON.  GEORGE  BYRON  CHANDLER. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  member  of  a  family  that  has  long  occupied  a 
prominent  and  honorable  place  in  New  Hampshire  history.  His  parents,  Adam 
and  Sally  (McAllister)  Chandler,  were  worthy  representatives  of  the  strong- 
minded,  able-bodied,  industrious,  and  successful  citizens  who  in  the  early  part  of 
the  century  tilled  the  farms  and  shaped  affairs  in  our  farming  towns.  They  re- 
sided upon  a  fertile  farm  in  Bedford,  which  was  the  birthplace  of  their  four 
children.  Of  these,  the  three  sons  —  Henry,  John  M.,  and  George  Byron  — 
are  all  citizens  of  Manchester,  and  are  now  engaged  in  the  banking  business. 
The  only  daughter  is  dead.  The  boys  spent  their  boyhood  upon  the  farm,  doing 
their  share  of  the  work  ;  but  their  parents^  were  solicitous  that  they  should  be 
fitted  for  some  more  profitable  calling,  and  gave  them  all  the  school  privileges  of 
the  neighborhood,  which  were  afterwards  supplemented  by  academical  instruc- 
tion at  several  state  academies. 

His  home  work,  his  studies  at  Piscataquog,  Gilmanton,  Hopkinton,  and 
Keed's  Ferry  academies,  and  his  duties  as  a  teacher  at  Amoskeag,  Bedford,  and 
Nashua,  occupied  the  boyhood  of  George  Byron  Chandler  until  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  after  which  he  spent  one  year  as  a  civil  engineer  in  the  employ  of 
the  Boston,  Concord,  &  Montreal  Railroad. 

In  the  spring  of  1854  he  decided  to  devote  himself  to  a  business  instead  of 
a  professional  career,  and,  coming  to  Manchester,  entered  the  grocery  house  of 
Kidder  &  Duncklee  as  a  book-keeper.  The  next  year  he  was  offered  a  similar 
position  in  the  Amoskeag  Bank,  which  he  accepted,  and  filled  so  acceptably  that 
eighteen  months  later  he  was  promoted  to  the  teller's  counter,  and  remained 
there  until  the  organization  of  the  Amoskeag  National  Bank,  in  1864,  when  he 
was  elected  its  cashier  and  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  re- 
sponsible position,  which  he  still  holds.  That  he  has  won  in  it  the  continuing 
confidence  of  its  managers,  who  are  among  the  most  sagacious  of  financiers,  and 
the  hearty  approval  of  its  numerous  owners  and  patrons,  is  the  best  testimony 
to  his  fidelity  and  efficiency.  His  success  in  this  capacity  led  the  trustees  of 
the  People's  Savings  Bank,  when  it  was  organized,  to  select  him  as  its  treasurer, 
and  the  success  of  this  institution  is  another  reflection  of  his  patient  and  skillful 
work.  These  two  banks,  of  which  he  is  the  chief  executive,  are  among  the 
strongest  in  the  country ;  and  it  is  much  for  him  to  be  proud  of  that  they  have 
grown  so  great  in  resources  and  public  confidence  during  his  administration. 

Mr.  Chandler  has  also  been  prominently,  honorably,  and  profitably  indenti- 
fied  with  many  other  financial  enterprises  which  have  been  conspicuous  for  their 
success.  He  has  been  the  treasurer  of  the  New  Hampshire  Fire  Insurance 
Company  since  it«  organization,  in  1870  ;  he  was  for  five  years  a  director  of  the 
Manchester  &  Lawrence  Railroad,  and  has  been  for  several  years  its  treasurer  ■ 
he  was  a  director  of  the  Blodget  Edge  Tool  Company  and  of  the  Amoskeao- 
Axe  Company,  during  their  existence ;  and  he  has  been  for  years  constantly 
13 


186  HON.  GEORGE  BYRON^  CHANDLER. 

intrvisted  with  numerous  private  trusts  involving  the  management  of  most  exten- 
sive and  important  interests. 

Mr.  Chandler  has  an  ample  fortune,  and  a  large  income  which  he  scatters 
with  a  free  hand.  He  gives  liberally  and  buys  freely.  The  representatives  of  a 
worthy  object  who  appeal  to  him  for  aid  seldom  go  away  empty.  His  residence 
and  grounds,  which  occupy  an  entire  si^uare,  are  among  the  most  costly  and  at- 
tractive in  the  city,  and  are  noted  as  the  home  of  good  taste,  elegance,  and  hearty 
hospitality.  He  is  a  leader  in  social  life  and  active  in  city  affairs.  For  several 
years  he  has  been  an  officer  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans,  and  is  now  president 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Club,  composed  of  the  leading  business  men  of  New 
Hampshire,  which  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  organizing.  He  has  read  much, 
and  traveled  extensively  in  this  country,  and  has  a  wide  acquaintance  with  its 
distinguished  men,  and  a  valviable  knowledge  of  the  resources,  customs,  and  char- 
acteristics of  its  several  sections,  which  he  has  often  been  called  upon  to  utilize 
for  the  benefit  of  others  in  lectures  before  schools  and  also  in  addresses  before 
public  assemblies. 

From  his  early  days  Mr.  Chandler  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Uni- 
tarian Society  in  Manchester,  and  has  served  for  years  as  one  of  its  directors  and 
president.  Like  other  organizations  with  which  he  has  been  identified,  this  has 
been  frequently  indebted  to  him  for  liberal  donations  in  money  and  a  zealous 
support  in  many  ways. 

In  1874,  the  Democratic  party  of  the  Manchester  district  elected  him  to 
the  state  senate,  where  he  served  with  credit  to  himself  and  the  city.  He 
declined  a  renomination. 

In  18G2,  Mr.  Chandler  married  Miss  Flora  A.,  daughter  of  Hon.  Darwin  J. 
Daniels,  an  ex-mayor  of  Manchester,  who  died  in  May,  18G8,  leaving  an  infant 
daughter,  who  did  not  long  survive  her  mother. 

His  second  wife,  who  now  presides  over  his  mansion,  is  the  only  daughter  of 
Col.  B.  F.  Martin,  of  Manchester,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1870.  Three 
children  —  Benjamin  Martin,  Alexander  Rice,  and  Byron  —  are  the  fruit  of  this 
union.     Of  these,  the  oldest  and  youngest  are  living. 


/^"^^^-^^^-^^^^r^ 


HON.  NAPOLEON  B.  BRYANT. 


BY    HON.    J.    M.    SHIRLEY. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  East  Andover,  N.  H.,  on  February 
25, 1825.  His  mother  was  of  Revolutionary  stock,  and  from  one  of  the  oldest  fam- 
ilies in  town  ;  and  was  one  of  those  sunny-souled  "Mothers  in  Israel,"  who,  half 
a  century  ago,  were  alike  the  glory  and  honor  of  our  New  England  homes.  His 
father  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  fine  natural  endowments ;  but  was  in 
straitened  circumstances.  As  there  was  no  lawyer  in  that  part  of  the  town  where 
he  lived,  nor  within  several  miles,  he  acted  as  a  magistrate,  trial  and  otherwise, 
for  many  years ;  and  his  services  were  sought  in  making  deeds,  wills,  and  con- 
tracts, formulating  notices  and  the  like,  organizing  voluntary  corporations,  settling 
the  estates  of  deceased  persons,  and  in  this  class  of  business  usually  intrusted  to 
lawyers.  His  son  grew  up  in  this  atmosphere,  the  influence  of  which,  with  his 
father's  strong  desires,  determined  the  choice  of  his  profession. 

The  world  lavishes  its  praise  upon,  and  often  loads  with  honors,  the  self-made 
man,  for  that  implies  a  successful  one.  It  too  often  forgets  the  rugged  path 
which  leads  thereto,  and  the  hard  discipline  —  the  heroic  treatment  that  so  often 
kills  —  which  enables  him  to  attain  that  position.  As  a  rule,  it  crowns  with  honors 
the  victors  as  they  sweep  the  summit-heights,  but  furnishes  no  headstone  for  the 
dead  that  mark  the  ascent  and  block  the  pathwaj'. 

Young  Bryant  had  the  hard  lot  so  common  "  among  the  hills ;"  but  he  had 
health,  hope,  courage,  ambition,  and  the  glow-fire  of  a  fervid  imagination,  which 
enabled  him  to  succeed  when  others 

■'  By  ihe  wayside  fell  and  perished, 
Weary  with  the  march  of  life." 

Until  ten  years  of  age,  he  had  the  limited  educational  advantages  afforded  by  the 
district  school,  gaining  one  term  at  a  private  school  when  about  seven,  by  walking 
two  miles  and  a  half  each  way,  dail}^,  to  attend  it.  At  ten  he  entered  the  high 
school  at  Franklin,  taught  by  Master  Tyler  of  Andover,  an  author  of  some  note 
and  a  teacher  of  high  repute  in  those  days,  and  remained  for  half  a  term, —  all  - 
that  the  limited  means  of  the  family  would  permit.  A  similar  privilege  was 
accorded  at  eleven  and  again  at  twelve.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  borrowed 
money  enough  of  a  relative  to  defray  the  expense  of  an  entire  term  at  Boscawen 
Academy,  then  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Ballard,  of  Concord,  a  graduate  of 
Dartmouth,  giving  his  note  therefor,  which  he  repaid  with  interest  at  the  end  of 
three  years.  Here  he  studied  trigonometry  and  surveying,  and  for  several  years 
afterwards  earned  considerable  sums  to  aid  him  in  prosecuting  his  studies  by  sur- 
veying in  his  own  and  adjoining  towns.  When  fourteen  he  "  cast  off  the  lines" 
and  assumed  the  entire  burden  of  his  support  and  education.  To  aid  in  this 
work  he  commenced  teaching  when  fifteen,  and  taught  every  winter  until  he  left 
college.  Thus  lacking  means,  he  drifted  about,  a  term  at  a  time,  among  the 
various  academies  in  the  state,  at  Concord,  Claremont,  Grilmanton,  and  Xew  Lon- 
don, until  he  entered  New  Hampton,  joining  a  class  which  was  to  fit  for  college 


188  HON.    NAPOLEON   B.    BRYANT. 

in  one  year  from  that  time.  Here,  through  the  kindness  of  the  faculty,  he  took 
the  studies  of  the  freshman  year,  entered  the  sophomore  class  at  Waterville 
at  the  same  time  his  fellow-classmates  entered  as  freshmen.  At  the  academies 
and  in  college  he  developed  an  intense  passion  for  debate,  and  tof)k  a  leading  part 
in  all  the  lyceums  at  home  and  the  societies  connected  with  the  various  institu- 
tions of  learning  he  attended,  to  which  he  undoubtedly  owes  much  of  the  freedom 
and  ease  that  have  since  characterized  his  eiforts  on  the  hustings  and  at  the  bar. 

When  he  was  about  twelve,  his  father  gathered  at  his  house  the  dehns  of 
what  had  been  an  excellent  town  library.  The  son  reveled  in  this  feast  of  good 
things,  reading  everything  from  Goldsmith's  "  Animated  Nature,"  to  Paley's 
Philosophy.  With  boyish  enthusiasm  he  devoured  the  pages  of  RoUin,  without 
the  slightest  idea,  that,  except  when  the  old  Jansenist  relied  upon  others,  he  was 
reading  romance  instead  of  history.  This  gave  a  new  impetus  to  his  desire  for 
what  was  then  termed  a  "liberal  education."  At  twenty-two  he  entered  the  office 
of  an  eminent  law  firm  —  Ncsmith  t.^  l^ike  —  at  Franklin,  and  after  something  less 
than  two  years'  hard  study  went  to  Harvard  Law  School,  from  which  he  graduated 
in  1848 ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Grafton  county  at  the  November  term  of  the 
same  year,  and,  having  opened  an  office  at  Bristol  in  that  county  in  November, 
1848,  upon  his  admission,  entered  upon  the  active  practice  of  his  profession. 

At  twenty-five  he  was  elected  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  county  of 
Grafton  and  held  the  office  for  three  years,  being  chairman  of  the  board  two 
years.  At  twenty-nine  he  was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  (solicitor)  for  that 
county,  and  discharged  its  duties  with  marked  efficiency.  In  1853  he  removed 
from  Bristol  to  Plymouth  ;  and  from  that  time  was  engaged  on  one  side  or  the 
other  of  nearly  every  important  cause  there  tried  by  the  jury. 

The  county  of  Grafton  was  created  in  1771.  It  was  a  large  county  and  had 
for  its  shire  towns  Haverhill  on  the  Connecticut  and  Plymouth  on  the  Pemige- 
wasset.  It  had  at  the  outset,  as  it  now  has,  a  bar  of  exceptional  character  and 
ability.  Some  of  the  greatest  forensic  and  legal  battles  of  the  century  —  like 
the  celebrated  Dartmouth  College  case  of  national  reputation  —  were  lost  and 
won  here.  Over  the  highest  court,  Smith,  Richardson,  and  Parker,  a  triad  of 
illustrious  chief-justices  presided,  followed  by  Gilchrist,  Woods,  and  Perley,  but 
little  less  distinguished.  Here,  in  the  olden  time,  Jeremiah  Mason,  the  foremost 
jurist  of  his  day,  Daniel  and  Ezekiel  Webster,  the  Sullivans,  and  their  compeers, 
"  rode  the  circuit  "  after  the  custom  in  the  mother  country.  These  great  advo- 
cates, after  exhaustive  preparation,  spoke  to  crowded  court-rooms,  the  people 
flocking  to  these  entertainments  like  men  to  a  feast.  Then  oratory  was  in  de- 
mand at  the  bar  ;  but  now,  in  its  place,  is  required  a  dry  summary,  as  terse  and 
pointed  as  an  auditor's  statement  of  accounts. 

When  Mr.  Bryant  became  actively  engaged  in  jury  trials,  the  bar  was  not 
what  it  once  was,  for  Livermore,  (Jlcott, —  the  father-in-law  of  Choate,  —  Wood- 
ward, and  others  were  in  their  graves ;  Woods  and  Wilcox  were  on  the  bench  ; 
Ira  Perley  had  removed  to  Concord ;  and  Joe  Bell  had  left  the  state.  But  there 
were  Goodall,  with  his  varied  experience  and  eventful  life;  Felton,  active,  pre- 
cise and  mathematical ;  Duncan,  whose  earlier  efforts  were  regarded  by  competent 
critics  as  at  least  equal  to  those  of  his  famous  brother-in-law,  Choate  ;  Harry 
Hibbard,  scholar,  lawyer  and  statesman  ;  that  dark  haired  "  giant  of  the  moun- 
tains," Bingham;  Bellows  and  Sargent,  since  chief-justices, —  headed  by  their  ac- 
knowledged leader,  Josiah  Quincy,  one  of  the  most  practical,  sagacious,  and  clear- 
headed men  in  the  state.  Here,  too,  occasionally  came  Perley,  with  combative 
blood,  incisive  speech,  and  immense  law  learning,  to  enter  the  lists  with  that  child 
of  genius  and  prince  of  cross-examiners  and  advocates,  Franklin  Pierce.  It  was 
no  child's  play  for  a  young  man  to  withstand  the  "  cut  and  thrust "  of  such,  and 
contest  for  supremacy  with  them  before  twelve  men. 


HON^.    NAPOLEON   B.    BRYANT.  189 

Lawyers  know  that  those  who  are  almost  invincible  before  a  referee,  auditor, 
chancellor,  or  the  full  bench,  are  often  failures  before  a  jury.  Nothing  tests  or 
taxes  a  lawyer's  nerve,  knowledge  of  men,  tact,  readiness,  fertility  in  resource, 
and  the  power  of  reconstruction  or  combination,  like  a  jury  trial,  and  he  only 
who  has  been  through  it  —  unless  it  be  the  woman  who  is  so  unfortunate  as 
to  be  his  wife  —  can  fully  appreciate  the  strain  of  the  minute  and  laborious  prep- 
aration which  precedes,  the  anxious  days  witiiout  food  and  nights  without  sleep 
which  attend  the  progress  of  the  trial,  and  the  collapse  after  the  verdict,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  an  adverse  one.  when  a  young  practitioner  is  pitted  against  one  of 
the  leaders.  It  is  a  hard  experience  ;  but  it  schools  him  in  his  work,  and  enures 
him  to  the  hardships  of  campaigning.  Mr.  Bryant  tried  his  first  cause  before  a 
jury,  against  Mr.  Quincy,  and  won.  The  veteran  congratulated  his  youthful  op- 
ponent and  predicted  his  success  at  the  bar.  At  the  next  term  he  was  pitted 
against  his  old  instructor,  Mr.  Pike,  and  one  of  the  judges  wrote  his  father  a  note 
highly  complimenting  the  efforts  of  the  son  in  that  important  and  exciting  trial. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Bryant  removed  to  Concord  and  entered  into  partnership  with 
Lyman  T.  Flint,  Esq.,  who  had  assisted  him  at  Xew  Hampton  in  fitting  for  the 
sophomore  year.  His  practice  soon  extended  to  Belknap  and  Hillsborough,  while 
he  retained  his  hold  in  Merrimack  and  upon  his  old  clients  in  (jrrafton,  where  he 
attended  the  courts  as  before. 

Mr.  Bryant  had  hitherto  acted  with  the  Democratic  party,  in  whose  faith 
he  had  been  reared,  but  in  1856,  in  common  with  thousands  more,  in  the 
whirlwind  which  swept  the  North  after  the  the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  and 
the  troubles  which  had  arisen  in  Kansas,  he  supported  by  voice  and  vote  the 
nomination  of  John  C.  Fremont,  speaking  in  all  the  large  towns  and  in  nearly 
every  county  in  the  state.  From  that  time  until  he  left  the  state  in  1860,  he 
probably  made  more  stump-speeches  than  any  other  man  in  it.  In  1857  he  was 
elected  representative  from  ward  six  in  Concord,  was  re-elected  in  1858  and  1859, 
and  was  speaker  the  last  two  years.  He  originated  and  carried  through,  against 
a  violent  opposition,  the  act  making  parties  witnesses.  At  this  day  the  act  seems 
eminently  proper ;  but  then  it  was  regarded  by  many  as  portentous  of  evil,  sub- 
versive of  social  order,  and  revolutionary  in  the  extreme.  Its  constitutionality  as 
applied  to  pending  suits  was  affirmed  in  Rich  vs.  Flanders  (39  N.  H.,  304), 
against  the  dissent  of  two  of  the  six  judges,  Chief- Justice  Bell  and  Judge 
Bellows,  who,  as  a  member,  had  strenuously  opposed  its  passage. 

When  the  Know-Nothing  party,  so  called,  carried  the  state  in  1855,  one  of 
their  first  acts  was  to  overthrow  the  entire  judicial  system  of  the  state,  by  repeal- 
ing the  acts  creating  it,  and  to  erect  a  Siamcse-double-headed-partisan  one  upon 
its  ruins.  The  system  proved  expensive  and  became  odious,  not  only  to  the  en- 
tire Democratic  party,  but  to  the  bar  and  influential  class,  irrespective  of  j^arty 
relations,  and  to  potential  forces  in  the  then  Republican  party. 

In  1859,  Mr.  Bryant  devised  the  system,  which,  with  a  brief  exception,  has 
been  in  force  to  the  present  time.  It  was  carried  after  an  intensely  bitter  con- 
test. He  made  up  the  committee  on  the  judiciary,  to  whom  the  bill  was  referred. 
It  consisted  of  ten  members,  four  of  whom  were  Democrats  headed  by  the  vet- 
eran Quincy,  five  radicals,  and  one  conservative  Republican.  Two  of  the  six 
were  for  the  bill  and  one  was  on  the  fence.  The  moss-backs,  politicians,  and 
lobbyists  swarmed,  and  great  eff"orts  were  made  to  defeat  it.  The  four  Demo- 
crats on  the  committee  at  first  voted  for  their  own  bill,  and  then  notified  the 
friends  of  the  new  one  that  on  the  test  vote  the}'  should  give  them  a  solid  sup- 
port, which  would  enable  them  to  bring  an  affirmative  report  into  the  house. 
Caucuses  were  held  almost  every  night  of  actual  session  to  hold  the  timid  ones  in 
line,  and  prevent  their  yielding  to  the  great  pressure  to  which  they  were  subjected. 


190  HON.    NAPOLEON    B.    BRYANT. 

An  incident  occurred  during  his  speakership  in  1859,  which  illustrates  Mr. 
Bryant's  readiness,  courage,  and  political  forecast.  The  theory  that  it  was  the 
right  of  every  state  and  everybody  in  it  to  nullify  the  laws  of  congress  whose 
constitutionality  had  been  affirmed  by  the  federal  supreme  court  was  much  more 
popular  in  the  North  then  than  it  became  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
Lengthy  petitions  headed  by  A.  T.  Foss,  A.  Folsom,  and  Stephen  Thayer, 
"praying  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  that  no  person  held  as  a  slave  shall  be  de- 
livered up  within  this  state,"  were  presented.  They  were  referred,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  to  the  committee  on  the  judiciary.  Parker  Pillsbury,  Polder  Foss,  Dr. 
Hawks,  and  others  ajjpeared  for  the  petitioners  at  the  hearing,  and  made  eloquent 
speeches  in  support  of  their  petition.  They  had  the  candor,  courage,  and  direct- 
ness which  characterized  the  old-time  Abolitionists.  They  did  not  attempt  to  de- 
ceive the  committee  or  any  one  else,  but  avowed  that  their  purpose  was  by  the 
bill  proposed  to  array  the  state  against  the  general  government.  The  hearing 
closed.  The  four  Democrats  voted  against  the  bill,  and  the  chairman  with  flushed 
face  demurred  at  such  legislation  ;  but  five  out  of  the  sis  Republicans  voted  for  the 
bill,  and  without  a  word  of  warning  it  was  reported  to  the  house  by  a  party  vote. 
It  was  read  the  first  time  without  objection,  and  upon  a  division  was  ordered  to  a 
second  reading  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  to  one  hundred  and  one. 
Mr.  Bryant  called  Mr.  Parker  of  Lempster — since  a  member  of  congress  — 
to  the  chair,  took  the  floor,  and  in  an  elo(juent  speech  denounced  the  bill  as  nul- 
lification pure  and  simple,  and  moved  its  indefinite  postponement.  A  sharp  de- 
bate followed.  Three  lawyers  who  had  voted  for  the  bill  in  the  committee 
defended  the  principle  of  it  mainly  upon  the  ground  that  everybody  had  the 
right  to  judge  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  bill  at  which  the  proposed  law  was 
aimed,  and  that  the  opinion  of  the  supreme  court  was  of  no  more  account  or 
binding  force  than  the  opinion  of  a  like  number  of  other  persons.  Mr.  Bryant 
replied,  and  the  result  was  that  two  members  of  the  majority  of  the  committee 
voted  to  sustain  their  nullification  report,  four,  including  the  one  who  reported 
the  bill  to  the  house,  voted  against  their  own  rej^ort,  and  the  bill  was  defeated 
by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  to  nineteen.  He  had  a  natural  gift 
for  the  position,  and  left  the  speaker's  chair  with  the  respect  of  all  for  his  ability, 
his  fairness,  and  his  unvarying  courtesy  as  a  presiding  officer. 

In  18GU,  Mr.  Bryant  was  at  the  Chicago  convention  as  a  substitute  delegate, 
working  strenuously  and  elfectively  for  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He 
stumped  the  state  for  him,  and  after  his  election  removed  to  Boston. 

Since  he  has  resided  in  Massachusetts,  he  has  refused  to  hold  any  political 
office  whatever,  and  has  only  interested  himself  in  polities  in  speeches  during  the 
state  and  national  campaigns.  Since  his  residence  there  he  has  devoted  his  time 
almost  entirely  to  an  active,  extensive,  and  constantly  increasing  general  practice 
in  several  counties  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  in  both  the  state  and  federal  courts, 
and  not  infrequently  has  been  called  to  his  old  circuit  in  New  Hampshire,  when 
he  could  spare  the  time.  The  importance  of  the  cases  in  which  he  has  been  en- 
gaged, and  the  character  of  those  opposed  to  him,  are  sufficient  evidence,  if  any 
were  needed,  that  he  is  a  trained  lawyer,  a  skillful,  eloquent,  and  able  advocate. 

He  delivered  the  centennial  oration  in  his  native  town  in  1879,  and,  for  some 
reason  unknown  to  the  writer,  rendered  the  same  service  for  the  town  of  Brandon, 
Vt.     He  has  also  occasionally  delivered  lectures  before  lyceums  and  the  like. 

When  twenty-four,  he  married  Miss  Susan  M.  Brown,  of  Northfield,  N.  H., 
a  woman  of  high  personal  character  and  accomplishments,  and  who  proved  all 
that  any  man  could  wish  as  a  wife  and  mother.     Three  children  still  survive. 

In  private  as  in  professional  life,  Mr.  Bryant  is  noted  as  a  genial  and 
courteous  gentleman. 


HON.  OLIVER  PILLSBURY. 


BY    HON.    J.    W.    PATTERSON. 


William  Pillsbury,  from  whom  most  and  probably  all  of  the  Pillsburys 
of  this  country  have  descended,  emigrated  from  Dorchester,  England,  and  set- 
tled in  old  Newbury,  now  Newburyport,  Mass.,  about  the  year  16-41. 

Oliver  Pillsbury,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  sprung  from  this  line. 
He  was  born  in  Henniker,  N.  H.,  February  IG,  1817.  His  parents.  Deacon 
Oliver  Pillsbury  and  Anna  Smith  Pillsbury,  were  both  persons  of  unusual 
physical  and  mental  strength.  The  writer  recalls  distinctly,  after  a  lapse  of  more 
than  thirty  years,  the  amiable  expression  and  serene  dignity  of  Mrs.  Pillsbury, 
and  the  masculine  thought  and  deep,  solemn  voice  of  the  deacon  as  he  led  the 
devotions  of  the  religious  assemblies  of  the  people.  He  was  one  of  the  strong 
men  of  the  town  and  a  pillar  in  the  church.  Others  might  veer  and  drift,  but 
we  all  knew  that  the  deacon  was  anchored  within  the  veil,  and  was  as  sure  to 
outride  the  storm  as  the  hill  upon  which  he  had  fixed  his  home.  He  was  a  man 
of  strong  powers,  a  stern  will,  and  constant  devotion  to  the  great  ends  of  life  as 
he  saw  them.  The  qualities  of  both  parents  were  transmitted  in  large  measure 
to  their  children.  Our  state  has  produced  but  few  men  who  were  the  peers  in 
intellectual  strength  and  moral  courage  to  their  first  born,  Parker  Pillsbury. 
Not  many  men  in  our  country,  indeed,  in  the  years  that  preceded  the  civil  war, 
struck  heavier  blows  for,  or  clung  with  a  more  courageous,  self-sacrificing  devotion 
to,  liberty  than  he.  Those  of  us  who  knew  him  could  hear  the  deep  undertone  of 
the  deacon's  voice  in  his,  and  knew  he  would  conquer  or  die.  In  the  roll-call  of 
the  imperishables  in  the  great  struggle  for  liberty,  his  name  will  be  heard  among 
the  first. 

Of  such  stock  is  Oliver,  the  fifth  son  of  Dea.  Oliver  Pillsbury.  During  the 
first  seventeen  years  of  his  life  he  experienced  the  usual  fortune  of  the  sons  of 
New  England  farmers, — a  maximum  of  hard  work  and  a  minimum  of  schooling ; 
but  at  that  time,  having  been  overtaken  by  a  lameness  which  threatened  to  be 
permanent,  he  was  sent  to  the  academy,  that  he  might  prepare  for  duties  suited 
to  his  prospective  infirmity.  He  entirely  recovered,  but  this  circumstance  gave  a 
new  drift  to  his  life.  For  nearly  five  years  he  pursued  his  studies  with  unabated 
interest  and  industry,  giving  thoroughness  and  a  practical  character  to  his  acqui- 
sitions by  teaching  during  the  winter  months.  Mr.  Pillsbury  had  few  equals  and 
no  superiors  among  those  who  taught  at  that  time  in  our  public  schools.  He  was 
master  both  of  his  school  and  his  studies,  and  had  the  faculty  of  inspiring  his 
pupils  with  his  own  spirit.  Many  who  have  since  done  good  work  in  life  look 
back  with  gratitude  to  those  years  of  pupilage. 

In  1839,  Mr.  Pillsbury  left  New  England  and  went  to  New  Jersey,  where  he 
opened  a  tuition  school,  there  being  no  free  schools  in  the  state  at  that  time. 
There,  though  an  entire  stranger,  he  gained  the  confidence  of  the  whole  com- 
munity at  once,  and  held  it  during  eight  years  of  successful  work.     During  the 


192  HON.    OLIVER   PILLSBURT. 

last  six  years  of  this  time  he  taught  the  academy  at  Bound  Brook,  Somerset 
county.  While  there  he  married  Matilda  Nevius,  who  died  in  1847,  leaving  a 
young  daughter,  an  only  child.  The  position  which  Mr.  Pillsbury  acquired 
among  the  educators  of  New  Jersey  may  be  learned  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
prominent  among  the  few  gentlemen  who  held  the  first  school  convention  at  the 
capital,  over  which  he  presided,  and  which  was  followed  by  similar  conventions  in 
other  cities.  The  movement  thus  begun  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  public 
instruction  in  that  state.  To  have  been  a  leading  spirit  in  the  accomplishment  of 
so  beneficent  a  work,  in  a  sojourn  of  only  eight  years,  should  be  a  perpetual 
honor  to  the  life  of  any  man. 

At  the  end  of  this  time,  Mr.  Pillsbury's  health  having  become  impaired,  he 
returned  to  his  native  place,  where  he  purchased  the  paternal  homestead  and 
entered  again  upon  the  work  of  his  boyhood.  For  seventeen  years  he  followed 
the  life  of  a  farmer,  but  did  not  move  in  its  old  empirical  ruts.  He  applied  the 
knowledge  and  improved  methods  which  modern  investigation  has  given  to  agri- 
culture, and  in  a  little  time  doubled  the  productive  power  of  his  farm.  The 
successful  factor  in  every  industry  is  brains,  and  in  this  case  even  New  Hamp- 
shire farming  proved  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

In  185(1,  Mr.  Pillsbury  contracted  a  second  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah 
Wilkins,  of  Henniker,  his  present  esteemed  and  accomplished  wife. 

Though  assiduous  in  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  his  benevolent  instincts  led 
him  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the  causes  of  temperance,  anti-slavery,  and  what- 
ever else  the  public  welfare  seemed  to  demand.  His  eflForts  in  this  direction,  in 
co-operation  with  those  of  others,  produced  a  change  in  the  politics  of  the  town, 
which  resulted  in  his  introduction  to  public  life.  He  was  elected  moderator  of 
town-meeting  fourteen  times,  selectman  six  times,  and  to  the  legislature  three 
times.  In  all  these  trusts  he  showed  himself  wise,  able,  and  efficient.  As  a 
legislator,  he  did  not  seem  anxious  merely  to  shine,  but  to  be  useful,  and  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  state.  Such  qualities  and  service  commended  him 
to  public  favor,  and  in  1862  he  was  elected  a  councilor  for  the  last  year  of  Grov. 
Berry's  administration,  and  re-elected  to  the  council  of  Gov.  Clilmore.  This,  it 
will  be  remembered,  was  while  the  hardships  and  horrors  of  the  civil  war  were 
upon  us,  and  when  questions  that  could  not  be  settled  by  precedent,  and  that 
tested  the  authority  and  resources  of  the  state,  were  brought  daily  before  the 
governor  and  his  council  for  decision.  The  exigencies  of  the  government  would 
not  suffer  delay.  Not  only  great  permanent  interests,  but  the  very  life  of  the 
nation  was  in  peril,  and  large  and  frequent  demands  were  made  upon  the  states 
for  supplies  of  men  and  money,  when  every  resource  seemed  exhausted.  In  such 
times  means  must  be  invented  and  resources  created.  Criticism  becomes  silent, 
and  waits  for  the  return  of  peace  to  awaken  into  unreasoning  activity.  Under 
the  pressure  of  such  events,  weak  men  are  likely  to  be  paralyzed,  avaricious  men 
corrupt,  and  bold  men  to  abuse  power. 

The  qualities  which  Mr.  Pillsbury  developed  in  these  trying  circumstances 
ought  to  make  his  name  historic.  The  writer  has  received  communications  from 
two  gentlemen  who  were  associated  with  him  in  the  council,  and  whose  services 
to  the  state  are  universally  acknowledged,  and,  as  they  express  more  forcibly 
than  any  words  of  mine  can  do  the  part  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  took 
in  that  eventful  period.  I  take  the  responsibility  to  publish  such  portions  of  their 
respective  letters  as  bear  specially  upon  the  subject  of  this  paper.  The  known 
character  of  the  writers  will  give  additional  weight  to  their  strong  language  of 
encomium.     Hon.  John  W.  Sanborn,  of  Wakefield,  writes  as  follows ;  — 

'■  Learning  that  you  are  to  prepare  a  biographical  sketch   of  Hon.   Oliver 


HON.    OLIVER   PILLSBURY,  193 

Pillsbury,  T  take  pleasure  in  saying  tliat  I  formed  acquaintance  with  him  iu  1863, 
being  then  associated  with  him  in  Grov.  Grilmore's  council.  His  great  executive 
ability,  patriotism,  honesty,  and  integrity  won  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all- 
his  associates.  At  that  time  the  country  was  engaged  in  that  terrible  war  for 
the  support  of  the  government  and  its  own  salvation,  and  grave  (|uestions  came 
before  us  relative  to  the  prosecution  of  the  same.  Although  an  ardent  Kepub- 
lican,  he  never  let  partisan  feelings  warp  his  judgment  in  his  official  acts.  He 
had  strong  convictions  of  right,  but  was  always  ready  to  discuss  all  questions 
with  that  frankness  and  fairness  which  characterize  men  of  noble  minds,  and  he 
fully  appreciated  the  opinions  of  his  ojjponeuts.  I  had  the  honor  to  serve  with 
him  on  the  military  committee  of  the  council,  which  had  important  matters  to 
consider,  —  ((uestions  involving  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  soldiers,  their 
families,  and  the  state.  The  duties  of  this  committee  were  arduous  and  often 
difficult,  but  I  can  attest  to  the  fidelity  and  untiring  energy  with  which  he  per- 
formed his  part.  He  took  great  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  soldiers,  particu- 
larly the  sick  and  wounded,  and  was  ever  ready  to  minister  to  their  wants.  In  a 
word,  he  was  a  model  councilor  for  the  time  in  which  he  served,  and  the  future 
historian  will  class  him  among  our  ablest  and  most  efficient  men." 

Hon.  John  W.  Noyes,  of  Chester,  who  was  also  in  official  association  with 
Mr.  Pillsbury,  says  :  — 

"  I  was  with  him  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  time  for  two  years,  while 
we  were  members  of  Gov.  Gilmore's  council,  during  the  war.  He  was  the  most 
important  member  of  the  council,  on  account  of  his  past  experience  and  famil- 
iarity with  the  duties  of  the  situation  ;  in  fact,  his  information  and  good  judo-- 
ment  were  exceedingly  valuable  to  the  governor,  and  all  the  other  members  of 
the  council. 

"  I  regard  Mr.  Pillsbury  as  one  of  the  best-informed  and  most  competent 
business  men  in  this  state.  I  hardly  think  that  there  is  another  man  in  the  state 
that  could  fill  his  present  position  as  well  as  he  does.  I  told  Gov.  Stearns  before 
he  made  the  appointment,  that,  if  he  knew  Mr.  Pillsbury  as  well  as  I  did,  he 
would  not  need  recommendations,  but  would  urge  his  acceptance  of  the  place." 

It  would  be  idle  to  add  anything  to  such  commendations. 

In  1869,  Mr.  Pillsbury  was  appointed  insurance  commissioner,  by  Gov. 
Stearns,  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  has  been  re-appointed  from  time  to  time 
to  the  office,  which  he  still  holds.  Soon  after  his  appointment  he  drafted  and 
secured  the  enactment  of  the  present  law  of  the  state  relative  to  insurance  com- 
panies of  other  states  and  other  countries.  This  law  established  the  department 
of  insurance,  and  has  given  to  the  people  a  degree  of  protection  against  the 
frauds  and  impositions  of  unreliable  companies  never  before  enjoyed  in  this 
state,  and  has  brought  into  its  treasury,  by  tax  on  insurance  premiums,  over  one 
hundred  and  twelve  thousand  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  compensation  of  the 
commissioner. 

During  the  whole  term  of  his  office,  Mr.  Pillsbury  has  worked  quietly  but 
assiduously  to  eliminate  unreliable  companies  from  our  borders,  and  has  carefully 
avoided  the  admission  of  all  such  as  are  not  regarded  as  perfectly  trustworthy. 
It  is  universally  affirmed  by  men  familiar  with  the  insurance  business,  that  the 
commissioner  of  this  state  has  administered  his  office  with  unusual  skill  and 
success,  and  his  reports  are  much  sought  for  and  often  quoted  and  referred  to 
as  authority  in  other  states.  The  state  may  well  congratulate  itself  on  having 
had  the  continued  services,  for  thirteen  years,  of  one  so  able  and  experienced  in 
an  office  so  intimately  connected  with  the  material  interest  of  the  people. 


194  HON.    OLIVER   riLLSBURY. 

In  1871,  Mr.  Pillsbury  moved  to  Concord,  and  the  estimation  in  which  he  is 
held  in  the  community  is  attested  by  the  fact,  that,  during  the  eleven  years  of  his 
residence  at  the  capital,  he  has  twice  been  elected  to  represent  one  of  its  wards 
in  the  legislature,  and  has  been  a  member  of  its  board  of  education  for  seven 
years,  and  was  president  of  the  board  at  the  time  he  tendered  his  resignation. 
When  a  member  of  the  legislature,  Mr.  Pillsbury  was  eminently  practical,  and 
whenever  he  spoke  was  listened  to  with  marked  attention  ;  for  he  only  addressed 
the  house  on  subjects  that  he  had  thoroughly  considered,  and  it  was  understood 
that  his  remarks  were  likely  to  aid  the  members  in  reaching  a  wise  and  just 
conclusion. 

As  one  of  the  supervisors  of  the  educational  interests  of  Concord,  Mr. 
Pillsbury  was  exceptionally  intelligent,  conscientious,  and  painstaking.  His 
views  on  the  general  subject  were  comprehensive,  and  he  kept  himself  informed 
as  to  all  real  improvements  in  methods  of  instruction.  He  discountenanced 
shams,  and  labored  faithfully  to  make  the  schools  sources  of  knowledge,  of 
discipline,  and  of  virtue.  To  the  other  public  trusts  so  honorably  held  by  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  we  may  add  that  of  trustee  of  the  State  Industrial 
School.  He  has  had  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  this  institution  since  its 
founding,  and  has  given  to  it  an  active  and  efficient  support. 

We  can  only  realize  how  pure  and  unselfish  his  labors  of  this  character  have 
been,  when  we  reflect  that  Mr.  Pillsl)ury  has  no  children  of  his  own  to  kindle 
and  feed  his  sympathies,  but  that  they  spring  from  a  general  benevolence  toward 
all  children  of  whatever  condition  in  life.  His  only  child  was  a  daughter  of 
rare  mental  activity  and  attainments,  and  of  unusual  sweetness  of  temper.  She 
married  Mr.  J.  S.  Eveleth,  of  Beverly,  Mass.,  where,  after  a  residence  of  nearly 
two  years,  she  died  of  consumption,  in  the  flower  and  promise  of  early  woman- 
hood, leaving  two  homes  stricken  and  desolate. 

In  this  brief  sketch  we  have  unconsciously  drawn  a  model  citizen,  —  a  man 
in  all  the  relations  of  life  faithful  to  the  claims  of  duty  ;  in  the  family,  society, 
and  the  state,  blameless ;  benevolent  without  ostentation,  patriotic  without  the 
claim  of  reward,  and  true  to  every  trust. 

"  While  we  such  precedents  can  boast  at  home. 
Keep  thy  Fabricius  and  thj'  Cato,  Rome." 


1^ 


-^./^^ 


CORNELIUS  VAN  NESS  DEARBORN. 


Early  as  1639,  and  only  nineteen  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims, 
John  Wheelwright,  a  dissenting  minister  from  England,  gathering  a  company  of 
friends  removed  from  Massachusetts  bay  to  Exeter  in  the  province  of  New 
Hampshire.  Among  the  thirty-five  persons  who  signed  the  compact  to  form  a 
stable  and  orderly  colony  is  found  the  name  of  Grodfrey  Dearborn,  the  patriarch 
of  the  entire  Dearborn  family  in  this  country. 

Forty  years  before,  he  was  born  in  Exeter,  England,  and  in  1637  landed  at 
Massachusetts  bay.  He  lived  at  Exeter  ten  years,  and  in  1649  moved  to  Hamp- 
ton, built  a  framed  house  which  is  still  standing,  became  a  large  land-holder  and 
town  official,  and  died  February  4,  1686.  Few  men  of  the  early  settlers  have 
left  a  family  name  so  widely  represented"  as  Grodfrey  Dearborn.  His  descendants 
are  numerous  in  every  county  of  New  Hampshire,  and  are  to  be  found  in  every 
part  of  New  England. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  among  the  descendants  of  Clodfrey  Dearborn  the 
practice  of  medicine  has  been  a  favorite  occupation.  Benjamin  Dearborn,  of  the 
fifth  generation,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1746,  and,  entering  upon  a  successful 
practice  at  Portsmouth,  died  in  his  thirtieth  year.  Levi  Dearborn  had  for  forty 
years  an  extensive  practice  at  North  Hampton,  and  died  in  1792.  Edward 
Dearborn,  born  in  1776,  was  for  half  a  century  the  medical  adviser  of  the  people 
of  Seabrook,  and  acquired  a  handsome  estate.  Glen.  Henry  Dearborn,  who  gained 
a  national  reputation  by  his  brilliant  services  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  as  the 
senior  major-general  of  the  United  States  army  in  the  war  of  1812,  was  a  prac- 
ticing physician  in  Nottingham  when  summoned  to  join  the  first  New  Hampshire 
regiment  raised  in  1775.  To-day  several  of  the  ablest  physicians  of  the  state 
bear  the  name. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  Dearborn  family  had  been  quite 
generally  distributed  through  Rockingham  county.  Peter  Dearborn,  the  great- 
grandfather of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Chester  in  1710.  Of  his 
children,  Josiah,  born  in  1751,  married  Susannah  Emerson,  the  daughter  of 
Samuel  Emerson,  Esq.,  a  substantial  Chester  farmer.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a 
shoemaker,  but,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  entered  the  army 
as  a  private,  and  was  stationed  at  Portsmouth  under  Col.  Joseph  Cilley.  After- 
wards he  did  honorable  service,  first  as  a  private,  and  then  as  lieutenant  in 
northern  New  York,  and  finally  closed  his  enlistment  by  an  expedition  to  New- 
port, R.  I.,  in  1778. 

Returning  from  the  war,  he  and  his  family  found  a  new  home  thirty  miles 
westward  in  Weare.  It  was  not  an  unfitting 'location.  With  its  sixty  square 
miles  still  mostly  covered  with  a  dense  forest  of  oak,  maple,  and  beech,  with  its 
uneven  surface  nowhere  rising  into  high  hills,  it  had  a  strong  soil,  which,  when 
cultivated,  yielded  large  crops  of  hay  and  grain.  It  was  already  a  growing  town- 
ship, and  thirty  years  later  became  one  of  the  four  leading  farming  towns  of  the 
state.     Here  Josiah  Dearborn  passed  his  life,  raising  a  family  of  eleven  children, 


196  CORNELIUS    VAN   NESS    DEARBORN. 

nine  of  whom  were  sons.  Samuel,  the  fifth  son,  and  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  horn  in  r7lt2.  The  district-Bchool  system  was  not  organized  in 
New  Hampshire  until  1806,  and  the  children  of  that  time  had  scanty  opportuni- 
ties for  instruction.  Young  Dearborn  and  his  brothers  were  reaching  manhood, 
when  farming  in  the  eastern  states  was  depressed  by  the  recent  war  with  England 
and  the  occurrence  of  seA^eral  cold  summers.  Migration  westward  had  com- 
menced, and  the  Deai'borns  for  a  time  debated  the  expediency  of  a  removal  to 
the  Western  Keserve.  They  at  length  decided  to  locate  in  Vermont,  and  in 
1816  five  of  the  brothers  and  a  sister  removed  to  Corinth,  a  town  in  the  eastern 
part  of  Orange  county.  Here  Samuel  Dearborn  settled  upon  a  farm,  soon  after 
married  Miss  Fanny  Brown,  of  Vershire.  whose  {)arents  were  natives  of  Chester, 
N.  H.,  and  here  he  passed  a  long  and  useful  life.  He  died  December  12,  1871, 
in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age.  His  wife  had  died  in  1836.  Of  scholarly 
tastes,  he  was  for  many  years  a  teacher  of  winter  schools.  An  active  member 
of  the  Freewill  Baptist  denomination,  his  religion  was  a  life  rather  than  a  creed. 

Cornelius  Van  Ness  Dearborn,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Fanny  Dearborn, 
was  born  in  Corinth,  Vt.,  May  14,  1832.  His  name  was  in  compliment  to  the 
then  ablest  statesman  of  the  state,  who  had  filled  the  offices  of  governor  and  min- 
ister to  Spain.  Cornelius  was  the  youngest  but  one  of  seven  children.  His 
childhood  was  passed  in  a  strictly  agricultural  community.  Corinth,  lying  among 
the  foothills  of  the  Green  Mountains,  is  one  of  the  best  farming  towns  in  eastern 
Vermont.  Without  railway  facilities,  with  scanty  water  power,  its  inhabitants 
depend  for  a  livelihood  upon  the  products  of  the  soil,  from  which  by  industry 
they  gain  a  substantial  income.  Few  in  Corinth  have  ever  accumulated  more 
than  what  is  now  regarded  as  a  fair  competency,  and  very  few  have  encountered 
extreme  poverty.  A  more  industrious,  law-abiding,  practically  sensible  people 
would  be  difficult  to  find. 

W^hen  four  years  old,  young  Dearborn  met  with  the  saddest  loss  of  childhood 
—  a  mother  whose  intelligence,  forethought,  and  womanly  virtues  had  been  the 
life  and  light  of  the  household.  He  early  joined  his  older  brothers  in  the  labors 
of  the  farm,  attending  the  district  school  for  a  few  weeks  in  summer,  and  ten  or 
twelve  weeks  each  winter.  When  fifteen  years  old,  he  attended  the  spring  term 
of  the  Corinth  Academy,  and  continued  at  intervals  for  several  terms  later.  In 
the  winter  of  1848-49,  his  seventeenth  year  not  yet  completed,  he  taught  the 
school  of  a  neighboring  district.  His  success  warranted  his  continuance  as  teacher 
ifc  the  vicinity  for  the  five  following  winters.  Continuing  his  farm  labors  in 
summer,  he  in  the  meantime  developed  a  mechanical  capacity  in  the  making  of 
farm  implements  and  the  designing  of  buildings, —  a  natural  aptitude  which  has 
been  of  great  service  in  maturer  years. 

Soon  after  attaining  the  age  of  eighteen,  Mr.  Dearborn  determined  to  enter 
upon  a  course  of  study  preparatory  to  a  professional  life.  Before  leaving  Cor- 
inth he  commenced  the  reading  of  law  with  Rodney  Lund,  a  young  man  who 
had  commenced  practice  in  the  vicinity.  In  March,  1854,  at  the  suggestion  of 
his  maternal  uncle,  Dr.  W.  W.  Brown,  he  came  to  Manchester,  and  renewed  his 
law  studies  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Isaac  W.  Smith,  with  whom  he  remained  till 
his  admission  to  the  bar  in  the  fall  of  1855. 

In  December,  1855,  he  opened  an  office  at  Francestown.  The  town  afiorded 
a  safe  opening  for  a  young  practitioner,  but  not  one  for  large  profits.  There  was 
a  time,  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  when  the  trade  of  Francestown  village 
exceeded  that  of  any  other  locality  in  Hillsborough  county.  But  the  opening 
uf  the  railroad  to  Nashua,  and  soon  after  to  Manchester,  entirely  changed  the 
centers  of  trade  and  business,  and  left  Francestown  to  become  a  respectable  and 
very  quiet  village. 


cor:n:elius  van  ness  dearborn.  197 

Hitherto,  Mr.  Dearborn,  while  entertaining  positive  views,  had  not  actively 
participated  in  political  discussion.  But  the  year  1856  witnessed  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  country.  It  had  already  so  far  con- 
centrated its  strength  in  New  Hampshire  as  to  have  secured  the  state  government 
and  a  unanimous  representation  in  Congress.  The  nomination  of  John  C.  Fre- 
mont for  president,  in  the  summer  of  that  year,  hastened  the  organization  of  the 
anti-slavery  elements  of  the  entire  North  under  the  name  of  the  Republican  party. 
In  common  with  a  majority  of  the  intelligent  young  men  of  the  state.  Mr. 
Dearborn  entered  into  this  contest  with  all  the  zeal,  vigor,  and  enthusiasm  of  one 
whose  action  is  untrammeled  by  personal  or  partisan  ends.  The  campaign  which 
followed  was  the  most  brilliant  and  far-reaching  in  its  results  of  any  in  the  polit- 
ical history  of  the  nation.  No  idea  ever  agitated  the  American  mind  to  which 
calculating  selfishness  was  more  foreign.  Even  the  great  uprising  which  brought 
about  the  war  of  Independence  was  less  free  from  selfish  motives.  And,  though 
the  general  result  in  the  presidential  election  of  that  year  was  adverse,  yet  in 
New  Hampshire,  as  in  every  state  north  of  Pennsylvania,  the  returns  clearly 
showed  that  the  cause  of  freedom  had  acquired  an  over-ruling  strength. 

In  June,  1857,  Mr.  Dearborn  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Louie  Frances 
Eaton,  daughter  of  Moses  W.  Eaton,  of  Francestown,  and  grand-daughter  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Eaton,  a  physician  of  long  and  extensive  practice,  and  one  of  the 
most  enterprising  farmers  of  his  time.  In  1857  he  was  elected  county  treasurer, 
and  re-elected  in  1858.  It  was  the  first  public  position  he  had  held,  and  its 
duties  were  satisfactorily  discharged. 

In  1858  he  removed  to  Peterborough,  occupying  the  office  of  E.  S.  Cutter, 
Esq.,  who  had  recently  been  appointed  clerk  of  the  courts  for  Hillsborough 
county.  He  resided  in  Peterborough  till  1865.  During  this  time  he  was  in 
partnership  with  Charles  G.  Cheney,  and  afterwards  with  Albert  S.  Scott,  both  of 
whom  have  since  died.  He  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature  in  the  years 
1861  and  1862,  being  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee. 

In  the  summer  of  1865  he  removed  to  Nashua,  for  the  purpose  of  continuing 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  An  accidental  purchase  led  to  a  change  of  occu- 
pation. The  JVashna  Telegraph  had  for  many  years  been  edited  by  Albin  Beard, 
a  genial,  witty,  and,  withal,  accomplished  writer.  Under  him  the  Telegraph  had 
acquired  a  marked  local  popularity.  He  died  in  September,  1862.  Its  present 
publishers  were  inexperienced  writers,  and  illy  qualified  to  satisfy  the  admirers  of 
its  former  editor.  The  Telegvaph  was  rapidly  deteriorating  in  value  and  influence. 
The  senior  proprietor  inquired  of  Mr.  Dearborn  what  he  would  give  for  his  half 
of  the  establishment.  A  somewhat  nominal  price  was  oifered,  and  much  to  the 
surprise  of  Mr.  Dearborn  was  accepted.  He  at  once  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
editor  and  financial  manager.  Under  his  direction  the  Telegraph  was  rapidly 
recovering  its  patronage  and  influence,  but  at  the  end  of  two  years  his  health 
failed,  and  a  change  of  occupation  became  a  necessity.  He  disposed  of  his  inter- 
est to  the  present  editor,  Hon.  O.  C.  Moore,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 

Since  his  residence  at  Nashua,  Mr.  Dearborn  has  contributed  largely  to  the 
improvement  of  real  estate,  to  the  erection  of  improved  school-buildings,  and  in 
his  capacity  as  member  of  the  board  of  education  to  the  reconstruction  and 
greater  efficiency  of  the  public  schools.  He  was  appointed  register  of  probate 
for  Hillsborough  county  in  1868,  and  held  the  office  till  1874. 

For  several  years  he  was  treasurer  of  the  Nashua  &  Lo-^yell  Railroad,  and  is 
still  one  of  the  directors.  In  his  official  action  he  aided  largely  in  sustaining 
the  measures  which  have  placed  that  corporation  in  the  front  rank  of  profitable 
railways. 

Nearly  twenty  years  ago,  while  a  resident  of  Peterborough,  he  was  appointed, 


198  CORNELIUS   VAN   NESS   DEARBORN. 

by  the  governor,  one  of  the  Bank  Commissioners  of  New  Hampshire.  In  that 
capacity  he  became  acquainted  with  the  extent  and  peculiarities  of  the  financial 
institutions  of  the  state.  In  1864  and  1865,  he  actively  superintended,  in  his 
ofiicial  capacity,  the  converting  of  the  state  banks  of  discount  into  the  national 
banks  of  the  present  system.  In  March,  1866,  he  was  appointed  Examiner  of  the 
National  Banks  for  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  a  position  which  he  still  holds. 
He  is  the  only  person  who  has  filled  this  position  since  the  organization  of  the 
national  banking  system. 

In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  Bank  Examiner,  ofiicial  fidelity  requires  that 
the  investioation  shall  be  thorough  and  exhaustive.  That  during  the  past  sixteen 
years  but  a  single  instance  of  defalcation  has  occurred  resulting  in  loss  among 
the  forty- nine  national  banks  in  the  state,  is  pretty  conclusive  evidence  of  a  dili- 
gent and  careful  supervision.  From  the  length  of  time  he  has  held  the  position, 
he  has  become  familiar  with  the  indications  of  laxity,  lenity,  negligence,  not  to 
mention  recklessness,  which  mark  the  first  steps  of  danger  to  a  banking  insti- 
tution- and  his  suggestions  and  warnings  to  bank  officials  have  not  infrequently 
been  of  advantage  to  the  public  generally  as  well  as  to  stockholders,  where  no 
publicity  has  been  gained  through  the  press  or  otherwise. 

Personally,  Mr.  J)earborn  is  not  an  ostentatious,  obtrusive,  aggressive  man. 
He  has  no  fondness  for  newspaper  notoriety,  no  solicitude  lest  he  shall  be  over- 
looked by  the  public.  In  politics  and  religion  he  is  liberal  and  tolerant,  conced- 
ing to  others  the  utmost  freedom  of  opinion.  Attending  to  his  own  duties,  it  is 
not  his  habit  to  interfere  with  the  personal  afi'airs  of  others.  But  when  attacked 
without  reason  or  provocation,  no  matter  what  his  pretensions,  his  assailant  will 
speedily  find  that  he  has  need  for  a  prudent  husbandry  of  all  his  resources. 

Mr.  Dearborn  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church.  His  two  children 
are  sons.  The  older,  John  Eaton,  born  November,  1862,  is  acquiring  a  business 
education.  The  younger,  George  Van  Ness,  born  August,  1869,  is  attending  the 
public  schools.  His  house  is  pleasantly  situated  on  Main  .street,  and  is  one  of 
the  desirable  residences  in  the  city.  Still  in  the  prime  of  life,  his  many  friends 
have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  in  the  future,  as  in  the  i>aet,  he  will  be  adequate  to 
any  responsibility  which  may  devolve  upon  him. 


COL.  JOHN  BRACEWELL.  A.  M. 


BY  REV.   GEO.  B.   SPALDING.  D.  D. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  June  18,  1837,  in  Clitheroe,  England. 
Clitheroe  is  a  busy  cotton-manufacturing  town  on  the  Ribble,  and  in  the  greatest 
cotton-manufacturing  district  of  the  world,  Lancashire. 

The  father,  Miles  Bracewell,  from  his  early  boyhood  had  been  engaged  in 
printing  calico,  having  served  his  apprenticeship  with  James  Thompson  & 
Sons,  who  owned  and  managed  the  Primrose  Print- Works.  James  Thompson 
was  a  famous  manufacturer,  his  enterprise  and  liberality  being  known  throughout 
Europe.  For  many  years  Miles  Bracewell  had  charge  of  the  '"color  depart- 
ment" in  the  Primrose  Print-Works.  He  afterwards  went  into  business  for 
himself,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  the  senior  partner  and  principal  owner 
of  two  print-works,  —  one  at  Oakenshaw  and  another  at  Kersal  Yale. 

It  was  while  the  father  was  in  the  service  of  James  Thompson,  that  John 
Bracewell,  then  a  very  small  boy,  was  regularly  apprenticed  to  this  distinguished 
manufacturer.  The  institution  of  apprenticeship,  in  anything  like  its  English 
thoroughness,  is  little  practiced  in  this  country.  For  a  long  period  in  England 
the  term  apprentice  was  applied  equally  to  such  as  were  being  taught  a  trade  or 
a  learned  profession.  The  term  of  seven  years  was  regarded  as  much  a  necessity 
for  the  learner  in  any  craft,  as  for  the  scholar  seeking  to  attain  the  degree  of 
doctor,  or  master  in  the  liberal  arts.  Although  the  laws  which  formerly  made 
the  apprenticeship  compulsory  have  been  abolished  in  England,  yet  the  principle 
is  universally  recognized  there  in  the  form  of  a  voluntary  contract.  Of  its  im- 
mense advantages  in  the  way  of  securing  the  most  thorough  knowledge,  and  high- 
est skill  in  the  learner,  no  one  can  doubt.  Mr.  John  Bracewell,  who  probably  to-day 
holds  the  foremost  place  among  those  engaged  in  his  business  in  this  country,  is  a 
living  argument  for  the  excellence  of  the  apprentice  system. .  He  began  his  tu- 
telage as  a  lad.  He  began  at  the  lowest  round  in  the  ladder  of  his  advancement, 
and  was  long  and  rigidly  held  at  each  last  until  he  could  safely  mount  the  higher 
one.  There  was  a  very  superior  French  chemist  employed  in  the  Primrose 
Works,  and  no  little  of  the  boy's  studies  were  under  him. 

When  eighteen  years  of  age,  Mr.  Bracewell  had  established  such  a  reputation 
for  proficiency  in  the  mysteries  of  color  that  he  was  offered  a  tine  position  in  a 
great  carpet  manufactory  in  France,  but  his  father  advised  him  to  decline  this  flat- 
tering offer,  feeling  that  the  responsibility  was  too  great  for  one  so  young.  That 
subtle  but  irresistible  influence  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  drawing  such 
tides  of  population  from  Europe  to  America  was  already  settling  the  question  as 
to  the  country  where  this  young  man  was  to  work  out  his  great  success.  Only 
a  month  after  he  had  declined  to  go  to  France,  he  received  and  accepted  the  offer 
of  a  position  as  assistant  manager  in  the  Merrimack  Print-Works,  Lowell,  Mass. 
There  he  remained  five  years  and  a  half,  winning  for  himself  a  distinguished 
reputation  by  the  energy  and  skill  of  his  management.     Certainly  it  argues  some 


200  COL.    JOHN    BRACEWELL,   A.  M. 

unusual  qualities  in  his  work  while  there,  some  extraordinary  gifts  and  capacities 
in  his  nature,  that  could  have  led  the  Cocheco  Manufacturing  Company  to  call  this 
youno-  man  of  twenty-three  years  of  age  to  its  most  responsible  position,  that  of 
superinteudent  of  its  print-works.  There  were  no  less  than  thirteen  applicants 
for  this  office.  The  directors,  with  entire  unanimity,  made  choice  of  this  young- 
est of  them  all,  and  gave  to  him  the  unlimited  charge  of  the  most  important 
department  of  their  great  industry.  Soon  after  entering  upon  his  new  duties, 
Mr.  Bracewell  took  advantage  of  the  suspension  of  work  in  the  manufactory, 
made  necessary  at  that  period  of  the  civil  war,  to  enlarge  his  scientific  knowledge 
by  attending  lectures  on  analytic  chemistry  at  Harvard  College.  He  studied 
with  great  thoroughness  this  science  during  a  five  months'  course,  and  at  the 
same  time  dii^ected  the  many  repairs  and  changes  which  were  being  made  in  the 
print-works  at  Dover.  With  the  beginning  of  the  year  1861,  Mr.  Bracewell  took 
up  his  residence  in  Dover.  The  remarkable  enterprise  and  judgment  of  the  new 
manager  made  themselves  at  once  felt.  For  just  twenty  years  he  continued  in 
his  position.  These  years  witnessed  a  series  .of  brilliant  succes.ses.  He  showed 
himself  to  be  a  genius  in  his  profession.  To  his  originating,  creative  mind  he 
joins  an  unusual  power  of  adapting  to  his  own  uses  suggestions  coming  from 
whatever  source.  By  his  sheer  abilities,  his  indomitable  energy,  his  quickness  of 
insight,  his  tireless  perseverance,  and  his  perfect  command  of  the  minute  details 
of  every  branch  of  his  work,  Mr.  Bracewell  soon  lifted  the  Cocheco  goods  to  the 
very  head  of  their  class,  and  held  them  there  to  the  last  day  of  his  service.  The 
production  of  the  print-works  very  nearly  (juadrupled  during  this  period. 

In  1864,  Mr.  Bracewell  was  marriid  to  Mary  Harriet  Hope,  of  Lowell,  Mass., 
whose  noble  character  death  has  made  the  more  precious  to  many  friends.  There 
were  born  to  them  three  daughters  and  one  son,  all  of  whom  are  living. 

During  Mr.  Bracewell's  residence  in  Dover  he  endeared  himself  to  all  classes 
of  people  by  his  large-hearted  liberality,  his  great  geniality,  and  his  keen  per- 
sonal interest  in  whatever  aff"ected  the  welfare  of  the  city  or  the  condition  of 
every  individual  in  it.  He  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  his  church,  which  he 
greatly  loved,  and  every  good  cause  in  the  community.  He  was  quick  to  suggest, 
and  ready  to  lead  any  movement  which  was  helpful  to  the  material  and  moral 
advancement  of  Dover.  With  a  view  of  benefiting  the  city,  and  also  as  a  sound 
investment  for  his  own  advantage,  Mr.  Bracewell  built,  in  1879,  a  substantial 
and  attractive  block,  consisting  of  nine  stores,  which  spans  the  Cocheeho  river.  It 
bids  long  to  stand,  a  fitting  monument  of  his  public  spirit  and  wise  foresight. 

Though  born  and  educated  an  Englishman,  he  became  an  ardent,  patriotic 
American  citizen  from  the  very  day  that  he  touched  American  soil.  His  pride 
and  hopes  for  America  are  as  intense  as  any  native  son's.  His  love  for  Dover  is  as 
tender  and  steadfast  as  though  its  air  was  the  first  he  breathed.  The  church 
with  which  he  first  iinited,  he  still  regards  as  his  home.  He  long  served  her  as 
a  most  efficient  superintendent  of  its  Sunday-school,  and  when  he  was  about  to 
remove  his  residence  from  Dover,  out  of  a  great  desire  to  see  the  church  freed 
from  the  burden  of  a  debt  of  thirteen  thousand  dollars,  Mr.  Bracewell,  by  his 
payment  of  a  tenth  of  the  sum,  led  on  others  to  such  generous  donations  that 
the  debt  was  speedily  extinguished. 

Mr.  Bracewell  may  still  be  regarded  as  a  New  Hampshire  son,  and  a  citizen 
of  Dover.  His  nature  will  not  allow  him  to  lose  elsewhei'e  the  very  great  inter- 
est which  twenty  years'  sojourn  here  has  created  in  him.  It  may  well  be  expected 
that  he  will  some  time  return  to  permanently  abide  among  friendships  whose 
preciousness  he  and  his  host  of  friends  so  fully  appreciate. 

In  January,  1881,  Mr.  Bracewell  received  an  off"er  to  go  into  business  at 
North  Adams,  Mass.,  and  as  the  physicians  thought  his  wife's  health  would  be 


COL.    JOHN    BRACEWELL,    A,  M.  201 

better  there  than  in  Dover,  he  decided  to  make  the  change.  The  directors  of  the 
Cocheco  JManufacturing  Company,  by  ofter  of  an  increase  of  salary  of  from  ten 
thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  other  inducements,  sought  to 
retain  Mr.  Bracewell  in  their  employment;  Mr.  Bracewell,  however,  removed  to 
North  Adams,  purchasing  a  third  interest  in  the  Freeman  Manufacturing  .Com- 
pany of  that  place,  and  the  same  success  which  was  acquired  in  Dover  has  fol- 
lowed his  abilities  into  the  great  business  which  he  represents  at  North  Adams. 
The  Windsor  calicoes,  and  other  products  of  the  Freeman  Manufacturing 
Company,  already  stand  in  the  market  among  the  foremost  of  their  class. 

In  1877,  Mr.  Bracewell  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Dart- 
mouth College,  —  a  distinction  well  earned  and  worthily  bestowed.  During  Gov. 
Prescott's  term  of  office,  Mr.  Bracewell  served  as  a  member  of  his  staff,  with 
rank  of  colonel. 

Mr.  Bracewell's  remarkable  activity  has  not  been  shut  into  his  business.  The 
intensity  of  his  nature  comes  out  to  an  undiminished  degree  in  his  politics,  his 
friendships,  his  public  spirit,  and  his  religions  faith.  His  sympathies  are  quick 
and  universal ;  his  enthusiasms  are  communicative  and  inspiring ;  his  affections 
are  tender  and  loyal. 
14 


',> 


ALBERT  H.  HAYES. 


Too  many  of  the  old  homesteads  of  New  Hampshire  have  gone  to  decay. 
Deserted  and  dUapidated  buildings,  decrepit  fences,  and  unharvested  crops  of 
briers  and  weeds,  where  but  a  generation  ago  there  were  the  homes  of  comfort, 
industry,  and  thrift,  tell  a  sad  story  of  what  our  state  has  done  to  supply  the 
brain  and  brawn  which  have  developed  the  resources  of  others.  But  now  and 
then  there  is  a  farm  which  has  not  only  been  preserved  and  made  to  retain  its 
old-time  attractions,  but  improved,  beautified,  and  adorned,  by  liberal  outlays 
dictated  by  good  judgment  and  cultured  taste,  until  it  has  become  the  envy  of  all 
who  admire  elegant  buildings,  fertile  fields,  and  fine  flocks  and  herds.  Many  of 
these  are  the  property  of  men  who  grew  up  rugged,  strong,  and  self-reliant 
among  our  hills,  went  out  in  early  manhood  in  (|uest  of  greater  o})portunities 
than  could  be  found  or  created  at  home,  and,  having  won  fortunes  abroad,  have 
loyally  brought  them  back  to  the  town  of  their  nativity  to  rescue  old  firesides 
from  irreverent  ownership,  to  erect  upon  old  sites  modern  mansions,  to  coax  from 
an  unwilling  soil  great  crops,  to  furnish  people  with  employment  and  courage, 
and  to  return  in  a  hundred  ways  substantial  thanks  for  the  privilege  of  having 
been  born  in  New  Hampshire.  Of  this  class  is  the  Hayes  farm  in  Alton,  now 
owned  by  Dr.  Albert  H7Hayj:s,  who  has  brought  back,  from  the  golden 
sands  of  theT*acific,  the  ample  means  which  enable  him  to  add  to  the  natural 
attractions  of  his  lakeside  birthplace  all  that  money  can  command  in  the  creation 
and  embeUishment  of  a  country  home. 

David  Hayes,  who  was  a  sturdy  farmer  of  Scotch  descent  and  a  native  of 
Straffor'd7i3ur chased  and  settled  upon  a  farm  in  Alton  about  the  year  1790.  He 
had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  in  time  the  oldest  son,  Joseph,  succeeded 
him  as  the  holder  of  the  title  to  tlie  farm.  This  son  married  Betsey;  Brewster,  a 
daughter  of  Greorge  Brewster,  of  Wolfeborough,  by  whom  he  had  eiglvt  children, 
of  whom  six  still  survive.  The  seventh  was  born  September  6,  1886,  and  named 
Albert  Hamilton/  His  parents  were  well  to  do  and  appreciated  the  value  of  an 
education,  so  that,  as  he  grew  up,  while  he  did  his  share  of  the  work  on  the 
farm,  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  winter  schools,  and  was  afterwards  sent  to  the 
academies  at  New  Hampton  and  Northfield.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  had 
completed  his  studies  at  these  institutions,  and  concluded  that  it  was  easier  to 
buy  farm  produce  than  to  raise  it,  and  that  a  place  containing  more  people  and 
more  money  would  suit  him  better  than  Alton,  and,  going  to  Boston,  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Abner  Ham,  of  that  city.  Subsequently,  he 
attended  lectures  at  Columbia  College  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  graduated 
at  n  Pennsylvania  university.  Meantime  he  had  served  as  a  hospital  surgeon  in 
the  army  for  two  years,  and  in  1870,  having  ac(|uired  the  necessary  funds,  made 
a  prolonged  European  tour. 

On  returning  to  America,  Dr.  Hayes  extended  his  travels  through  this  coun- 
try, and  in  1874,  with  an  eye  to  business  and  pleasure,  went  to  California. 
Here  he  soon  became  acquainted  with  John  W.  Mackey,  the  Bonanza  king,  and 


^ 


ALBERT    H.    HAYES.  203 

other  prominent  financiers  on  the  coast,  and  as  a  result  formed  a  partnersliip  with 
J.  M.  Walker,  a  former  partner  of  Mackey,  under  the  firm  name  of  Hayes  & 
Walker.  As  a  member  of  this  firm,  and  as  an  associate  witlr  Mackey,  Mr. 
Hayes,  during  the  next  three  years,  did  an  extensive  banking  and  brokerage 
business,  handling  a  vast  amount  of  money,  and  reaping  handsome  profits,  which 
enabled  him,  a  little  later,  to  buy  largely  of  the  stock  of  the  Bonanza  mines, 
which  were  then  pouring  a  steady  stream  of  wealth  into  the  laps  of  their  owTiers. 
Becoming  convinced  that  this  would  not  continue,  and  that  other  mining  prop- 
erties were  more  desirable,  he  sold  out  his  interest,  and  after  a  long  investigation 
bought  outright  the  Eed-Hill  gravel  mines,  in  Trinity  county,  California.  This 
purchase,  which  includes  eleven  hundred  acres  of  land,  in  which  are  located 
seven  mines,  and  extensive  water  rights,  upon  which  in  that  coiintry  the  value  of 
a  gold  mine  largely  depends,  makes  iMr.  Hayes  the  sole  owner  of  by  far  the 
largest  and  most  valuable  mining  property  held  by  a  single  individual  in  the 
state  of  California,  and  establishes  his  place  among  the  few  who  have  been  able 
to  seize  and  hold  the  glittering  prize  for  which  so  many  have  striven  since  the 
western  slope  began  to  3'ield  its  treasures. 

While  thus  seeking  his  fortune  elsewhere,  Mr.  Hayes  has  retained  his  resi- 
dence in  Alton  and  his  lively  interest  in  all  that  concerns  the  town  and  state. 
The  homestead  upon  which  he  was  born  is  his,  and  he  makes  it  his  home  during 
the  summer.  He  has  expended  a  large  amount  in  improving  it,  a  barn  costing 
fifteen  thousajid  dcjllars  being  among  the  latest  additions.  When  the  house, 
which  he  has  planned  to  match  it,  is  erected,  the  establishment  will  be  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  state. 
1  ^  In  1870,  1877,  and  1878,  Dr.  Hayes  represented  Alton  in  the  legislature. 
OjCift^  He  married,  in  1877,  Jessie  B.  Benjamin,  daughter  of  E.  M.  Benjamin. 
Esq.,  of  San  Francisco,  a  relative  of  Judali  P^Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  and  a 
lady  of  rare  literary  attainments  and  social  accomplishments.  Their  only  child  — 
Lloyd  Benjamin  Hayes  —  was  born  May  21,  1880. 

With  so  much  success  behind  him,  Mr.  Hayes  is  still  a  young  man,  as  cheoy 
and  active  and  energetic  as  when  he  first  left  New  Hampshire.  He  has  an 
extensive  knowledge  of  the  world,  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  among  those 
who  shape  the  politics  and  business  of  the  country,  and  hosts  of  friends  who 
have  been  won  by  his  unfailing  good  nature,  liberality,  and  courtesy.  He  is 
jiledged,  when  he  has  done  making  money,  to  come  back  to  New  Hampshire 
and  spend  it. 


HON.  GEORGE  COGSWELL,  A.  M..  M.  D. 


BY    JOHN    CROWELL,    M.   D. 


GrEORGE  CoGSWELL  was  born  in  the  town  of  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  February  5, 
1808.  He  came  from  that  sturdy  stock  of  ancestors  whose  history  is  so  closely 
interwoven  with  the  early  life  and  enterprise  of  New  England.  In  1635,  John 
Cogswell,  a  prosperous  Englishman  of  good  estate  and  standing,  established  a 
settlement  in  the  town  of  Ipswich,  now  Essex,  Mass.,  on  a  grant  of  three  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  which  have  remained  in  the  Cogswell  name,  in  regular  line, 
to  the  present  time.  His  maternal  ancestor  was  (liles  Badger,  who  settled  in 
Newbury,  Mass.,  the  same  year.  These  ftimilies  have  been  closely  allied  by  mar- 
riage, and  their  descendants  have  been  prominent  in  church  and  state,  in  medicine 
and  in  letters. 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Dr.  William  Cogswell,  was  a  medi- 
cal practitioner  of  wide  reputation,  noted  for  his  executive  and  judicial  abilities. 
He  was  appointed  chief  surgeon  of  the  military  hospital  at  West  Point  during 
the  Revolutionary  war,  closing  his  service  in  1785,  when  he  settled  in  Atkinson, 
N.  H.,  practicing  his  profession  until  the  close  of  his  life,  January  1,  1831. 
yis  mother  was  Judith  Badger,  daughter  of  Gen.  Joseph  Badger,  Sen.,  of 
Gilmanton,  N.  H.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  force  of  character,  of  devout 
piety  and  strong  faith.  When  in  her  ninety-fourth  year,  after  her  earthly  vision 
had  become  dim,  the  name  of  Jesus  would  light  her  face  with  a  radiant  glow  of 
loving  recognition.  This  devout  woman  united  with  the  church  in  Atkinson  in 
1810,  on  which  interesting  occasion  her  husband  and  their  three  oldest  children 
joined  her  in  the  act  of  consecration  ;  and  on  the  same  day  their  six  younger 
children  were  baptized  by  the  pastor.  Rev.  Stephen  Peabody.  The  youngest  of 
these  nine  children  died  in  infancy.  All  of  the  remaining  eight  became  pro- 
fessors of  religion,  and  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  honors 
and  dignities  of  the  high  official  trusts  committed  to  them.  Of  this  large 
family,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  alone  survives  (1882),  vigorous  in  his  three- 
score years  and  ten,  and  actively  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
several  official  trusts. 

Dr.  George  Cogswell  received  his  preliminary  education  at  Atkinson  Academy, 
where  his  love  for  scientific  investigation  soon  became  manifest.  He  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  with  his  father,  whose  wise  instruction  and  safe  counsel 
did  much  to  shape  the  future  career  of  the  aspiring  student.  In  his  desire  for  a 
wider  culture  in  the  line  of  his  chosen  profession,  he  became  a  private  student  to 
Reuben  D.  Mussey,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  for  two  years  enjoyed  the  instruction  of 
this  distinguished  lecturer  on  anatomy  and  surgery.  Early  in  1830,  he  became 
a  pupil  of  John  D.  Fisher,  M.  D.,  of  Boston,  who,  at  that  time,  was  the  most 
noted  auscultator  in  New  England.  Dr.  Fisher  showed  his  confidence  in  his 
ambitious  student  by  giving  him  the  main  practical  charge  of  the  House  of 
Industry,  at  that  time  located  in  South  Boston.  The  grateful  pupil  held  the 
most  intimate  relations  with  his  distinouished  teachers  during  their  lives. 


Kf''' 


i:)^<^^i^(-'-^ 


HON.   GEORGE    COGSWELL,  A.  M.,  M.  D.  205 

In  1830  he  was  graduated  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  Dartmouth  College,  with 
the  honors  of  his  class,  and  the  same  college  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  18G5. 

Dr.  Cogswell  at  once  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Bradford, 
Mass.,  in  August.  1830,  and  soon  entered  into  a  large  and  successful  business. 
He  brought  to  his  work  the  discipline  of  hard  and  intelligent  study,  and  his 
great  desire  was  to  advance  the  standard  of  medical  practice  in  Essex  county. 
He  was  the  first  physician  in  "  Essex  North  "  who  made  intelligent  use  of 
auscultation  and  percussion  in  the  diagnosis  of  disease. 

In  his  desire  for  a  wider  knowledge  in  the  range  of  his  profession,  especially 
in  the  line  of  siirgery,  he  visited  Europe  in  the  fall  of  1841,  spending  the  suc- 
ceeding winter  in  visiting  the  hospitals  of  Paris,  and  in  attending  the  lectures  of 
the  distinguished  men  who  at  that  time  had  attained  a  position  in  medical 
science  surpassing,  in  point  of  investigation  and  practical  analysis,  that  of  any 
other  city.  In  the  following  spring  he  visited  the  principal  cities  of  Italy,  and 
for  a  while  studied  in  the  hospitals  of  London.  On  his  return  to  Bradford  he 
at  once  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  boldly  and  successfully 
attempted  capital  operations  in  surgery,  and  became  the  leading  surgical  operator 
and  consulting  physician  for  a  large  circuit.  He  fitted  up  a  well  appointed 
dissecting-room,  and  the  advantages  of  his  instruction  were  sought  by  many 
students,  who  can  attest  to  the  thoroughness  of  his  teaching,  especially  in  the 
department  of  surgical  anatomy.  His  knowledge  of  technical  anatomy  was  quite 
remarkable,  and  sometimes  his  students  would  contrive  a  plot  to  "  stump  "  the 
"  old  doctor ''  by  an  intricate  quizzing  upon  some  obscure  nerve  or  vessel.  The 
attempt  always  proved  futile ;  but  the  cunning  students  did  not  enjoy  the  fire  ot 
(juestions  that  followed  from  their  teacher,  who  all  too  easily  perceived  the  "  soft 
impeachment."  The  term  "old  doctor"  was  applied  by  the  students  before  their 
preceptor  was  thirty  years  old.  In  1844,  Dr.  Cogswell  was  oflPered  a  professor- 
ship in  the  medical  department  of  one  of  the  leading  colleges  of  New  England, 
which  he  declined. 

He  early  manifested  his  interest  in  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of  medical 
practice,  by  suggesting  to  his  professional  brethren  the  importance  of  a  local 
organization,  and  through  his  efibrts  the  Essex  North  Medical  Association  was 
formed,  composed  of  the  leading  physicians  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  county. 
This  society  has  had  a  vigorous  growth,  and  is  now  merged  into  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Essex  North  District  Medical 
Society."  Although  retired  from  active  practice,  he  retains  his  membership  in 
this  society,  and  regularly  attends  the  Cjuarterly  meetings,  participating  in  the 
scientific  and  practical  discussions,  and  manifesting  a  lively  interest  in  the  success 
of  the  younger  members. 

Dr.  Cogswell  has  been  called  upon  to  fill  many  positions  of  responsibility  and 
trust ;  and  since  he  retired  from  the  active  duties  of  professional  life  his  whole 
time  has  been  absorbed  in  the  transaction  of  business  of  a  public  and  private 
nature.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  Union  Bank  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  at  its 
organization,  in  1849,  and  was  elected  to  the  same  office  when  that  institution 
became  the  First  National  Bank,  in  1864,  which  position  he  still  retains.  For 
many  years  he  has  been  vice-president  of  the  Haverhill  Savings  Bank,  and  was 
for  a  time  a  successful  railroad  president. 

He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Chapman-Hall  meeting  in  Boston,  which 
organized  the  Republican  party  in  Massachusetts,  with  which  party  he  has  ever 
been  in  full  accord.  In  1852  he  was  a  member  of  the  electoral  college  of 
Massachusetts,  which  gave  the  vote  of  the  state  for  Gren.  Winfield  Scott ;  and 
also  a  member  of  the  college  of  1864,  which  srave  the  vote  of  the  state  for  Gren. 


206  HON.  GEORGE    COGSWELL,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant.  He  was  a  delegate  from  the  sixth  ilistriet  of  Massachusetts 
to  the  Chicago  convention  which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for  president  in 
18G0.  In  18,58  and  1859,  he  was  a  member  of  the  executive  council  of  Massa- 
chusetts, with  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  as  governor.  In  1862  he  was  appointed,  by 
President  Lincoln,  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the  sixth  district  of  Massa- 
chusetts. After  holding  this  office  for  four  years,  he  was  removed  by  President 
Johnson,  without  cause;  but  was  again  appointed  to  the  same  office  by  President 
Grant,  in  1870,  which  ])osition  he  held  until  1875,  when  this  district  was  consoli- 
dated with  two  other  districts.  This  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  im^iortant 
paying  districts  in  the  country,  and  under  the  administration  of  Dr.  Cogswell  its 
affiiirs  were  conducted  with  marked  efficiency,  and  with  absolute  correctness. 

Dr.  Cogswell  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  educational  matters,  and  he 
has  given  some  of  his  best  service  to  the  management  of  im])()rtant  schools.  He 
has  been,  for  a  long  time,  a  trustee  of  Atkinson  Academy,  and  is  also  a  trustee  of 
the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science,  in  Salem,  Miiss.  But  the  crowning  work  of 
his  life  in  the  department  of  education  has  been  in  connection  with  Bradford 
Academy.  For  nearly  fifty  years  he  has  been  a  trustee  of  this  famous  school, 
and  during  most  of  this  time  has  had  the  entire  management  of  its  financial 
affairs.  His  efficiency  in  this  work  is  best  illustrated  by  the  success  of  the  school 
in  all  its  departments.  The  splendid  appointmcsnts  of  this  academy  for  the  higher 
education  of  young  ladies,  the  ample  grounds,  the  perfection  of  the  school  edifice, 
the  excellence  of  the  teachers,  and  the  scope  of  its  curriculum,  give  it  a  promi- 
nence and  a  power  not  excelled  })y  any  similar  institution  in  the  land.  It  may 
be  safely  estimated  that  Dr.  Cogswell,  by  his  long  connection  with  this,  the 
oldest  school  for  young  ladies  in  the  country,  has  had  a  wider  personal  expe- 
rience in  matters  of  internal  management,  in  consultation  with  teachers,  and  in 
advising  with  reference  to  pupils,  than  any  man  connected  with  an  institution  of 
this  character  ;  and  he  has  the  pleasure,  with  his  associate  trustees,  of  seeing 
this  school,  by  the  generosity  and  interest  of  its  many  friends,  placed  upon  an 
enduring  foundation.  He  was  elected,  in  1869,  a  member  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  is  also  a  member  of  tlie  New 
England  Historic-Genealogical  Society. 

In  the  great  reforms  that  have  occurred  during  the  last  half-century,  Dr. 
Cogswell  has  given  his  influence  by  judicious  advice  and  consistent  example. 
He  coumienced  active  life  with  the  temperance  movement,  and  by  precept  and 
example  has  ever  advanced  the  cause.  He  was  also  an  ardent  supporter  of  the 
anti-slavery  movement  from  the  beginning  of  that  great  controversy. 

Dr.  Cogswell  is  evangelical  in  his  religious  convictions,  and  has  never 
departed  from  the  traditions  of  his  ancestors.  In  1831  he  became,  by  profes- 
sion, a  member  of  the  First  Parish  Congregational  church  in  Bradford,  and  has 
always  been  identified  with  its  growth  and  prosperity. 

In  1860  he  assisted  in  forming  the  "  Haverhill  Monday  Evening  Club,"  a 
private  organization  limited  to  twenty-five  members.  This  club  is  composed  of 
gentlemen  of  literary  tastes,  residing  in  Haverhill  and  Bradford,  and  the  meet- 
ings afford  delightful  recreation  in  the  discussion  of  literary,  scientific,  and 
social  to2ncs.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  successful  clubs  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  its  unique  character  has  suggested  similar  organizations  in  many 
neighboring  cities. 

In  1831  he  married  Abigail  Parker,  daughter  of  Peter  Parker,  Esq.,  of 
East  Bradford,  now  Groveland.  Her  ancestors  were  noted  for  intellectual  ability 
and  force  of  character.  She  was  born  September  6,  1808,  and  died  July  23, 
1845.     The  children  of  this  marriage  are  as  follows :  — 

Abby  Parker,  born  September  25,  1832 ;  graduated  at  Bradford  Academy ; 


HON.  GEORGE    COGSWELL,  A.  M,,  M.  D.  207 

married  Hon.  George  F.  Choate,  judge  of  probate  and  insolvency  of  tlie  county 
of  Essex,  INIass.,  October  20,  1859. 

George  Badger,  born  Seitteniber  15,  ISiU;  fitted  for  college  under  the  tuition 
of  Benjamin  GriH'nleaf,  and  at  (lihuanton  Academy;  entered  Dartmouth  College 
in  1851;  followed  the  sea  before  the  mast  from  1853  to  1855,  sailing  up  the 
Mediterranean,  and  around  the  world.  In  the  winter  of  1855-50  he  attended 
Harvard  Medical  School,  and  graduated  as  M.  D.  from  Dartmouth  College  in 
1857  ;  from  1857  to  1859,  was  resident  physician  in  charge  of  the  state  alms- 
house at  Bridgewater,  Mass.  He  settled  in  North  Easton  in  18G0,  where  he 
now  resides,  enjoying  a  large  and  successful  practice;  was  surgeon  of  the  Twenty- 
Ninth  Massachusetts  regiment  during  the  war ;  was  on  the  staft"  of  Gen.  Wilcox 
as  acting  medical  inspector  of  the  ninth  army  corps,  and  for  two  months  was 
incarcerated  in  Libby  prison ;  medical  director  of  Massachusetts  Department, 
G.  A.  R.,  in  1874  and  1875.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from 
Dartmouth  College  in  1880.  He  married  Catherine  Babsou  Brown,  of  Brad- 
ford, February  18,  1858. 

William  Wilberforce,  born  January  22,  1887  ;  died  August  5,  1837. 

William,  born  August  28,  1838.  He  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  (Andover) 
and  Kimball  Union  academies;  entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1855;  made  a 
voyage  around  the  world,  before  the  mast,  in  1856  and  1857,  doubling  Cape 
Horn  and  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  graduated  at  Harvard  Law  School  in  18G0,  and 
admitted  to  the  practice  of  law  the  same  year ;  entered  the  United  States  military 
service  in  1861,  as  captain  of  volunteers ;  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel  in  1862, 
to  colonel  in  1863,  and  brevet  brigadier-general  in  1864;  discharged  from  service 
July  28,  1865 ;  commander  of  the  post  at  Atlanta  during  its  occupation  by  Gen. 
Sherman's  army ;  was  under  Banks  in  Shenandoah  valley,  Pope  in  Virginia, 
McClellan  at  Antietam,  Hooker  at  Chancellorsville,  Sherman  at  Cl-iattanooga, 
Atlanta,  Savannah,  llaleigh,  and  at  the  final  surrender ;  commander  Massachu- 
setts Department,  G.  A.  R.,  1870  ;  senior  vice-commander  United  States  military 
order,  Loyal  Legion,  of  Massachusetts,  1870  ;  was  four  times  wounded,  once 
severely.  He  now  resides  in  Salem,  Mass.,  and  was  mayor  of  that  city  from 
1867  to  1869,  and  from  1872  to  1873,  inclusive ;  member  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives in  1871  and  1872,  and  in  1881  and  1882.  He  married,  June  20, 
1865,  Emma  Thorndike  Proctor,  who  died  April  1,  1877.  He  was  again  mar- 
ried, December  12,  1881,  to  Eva  M.  Davis,  of  Salem.  Dartmouth  College 
conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  in  1878. 

Sarah  Parker,  born  March  23,  1843  ;  graduated  at  Bradford  Academy.  In 
1871  she  made  an  extended  tour  in  Eurojje,  in  company  with  her  brother-in-law, 
Judge  Choate. 

In  1846,  Dr.  Cogswell  married  Elizabeth  Doane,  youngest  daughter  of  Hon. 
Elisha  Doane,  of  Yarmouth.  Judge  Doane  was  a  man  distinguished  for  wisdom 
and  exactness,  belonging  to  one  of  the  most  respected  and  cultivated  families  on 
Cape  Cod.     The  following  are  the  children  of  this  marriage :  — 

Elisha  Doane  and  Susan  Doane,  born  September  22,  1847.  Susan  died 
-November  29,  1847  ;  Elisha  died  April  6,  1850. 

Doane,  born  April  29,  1851  ;  graduated  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  and 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  the  class  of  1874 ;  studied  medicine  two  years  at 
Harvard  Medical  School  ;  is  now  extensively  engaged  in  agriculture,  on  one  of 
the  largest  farms  in  Flssex  county. 

CaroHne  Doane,  born  August  2,  1852;  graduated  at  Bradford  Academy; 
and  in  1878  visited  the  most  interesting  ])ortions  of  England,  Scotland,  and  the 
continent  of  Europe. 

In   1878,  Dr.   Cogswell  made  his  second  visit  to  Europe,  and  was  at  the 


208  HO^.  ftEORGE    COGSWELL,  A.  M.,  M,  T>. 

World's  Fair,  in  Paris,  during  that  year.  He  included  in  his  travels  the  moun- 
tains and  lakes  of  Switzerland,  and  portions  of  Germany,  Belgium,  and  Holland. 
He  also  visited  the  rural  di.striets  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  giving  much 
attention  to  the  agricultural  capabilities  and  resources  of  the  countries  through 
which  he  passed,  and  manifesting,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  the  same  enthusiasm  in 
all  objects  of  interest  that  characterized  his  former  visit,  thirty-six  j^ears  before. 
Amid  his  multiplied  cares  and  duties.  Dr.  Cogswell  has  found  time  to  devote 
no  little  attention  to  agriculture ;  and  his  broad  acres,  on  the  sunny  slope  of 
"Riverside,"  give  evidence  of  successful  labor.  There,  amid  the  rural  retirement 
of  his  country  home,  he  passes  the  summer  months  of  his  green  old  age,  with  his 
delightful  family,  receiving  his  friends  with  the  easy,  cordial  grace  of  old-time 
hospitality.  His  interest  in  all  that  relates  to  the  welfare  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  has  lived  for  half  a  century  remains  unabated.  The  public  schools,  the 
intellectual  and  social  life  of  the  town,  improvements  in  agriculture,  and  the 
dignity  and  proprieties  of  local  management,  —  all  claim  his  attention  and  enlist 
his  co-operation  ;  and  to  him  belongs  the  noble  prestige  of  the  honored  and 
beloved  fellow-citizen. 

"  His  prosperous  labor  fills 
The  lips  of  men  with  honest  praise ; 
And,  sun  by  sun,  the  happy  days 
Descend  below  th(!  golden  hills." 


{jkoAUu  d^Pexxytnuli. 


HON.  CHARLES  A.  PEABODY. 


Hon.  Charles  A.  Peabodt,  of  New  York  city,  was  born  in  Sandwich,  in 
Strafford  (now  Carroll)  county,  N.  H.,  on  the  10th  day  of  July,  A.  D.  18U, 
and  was  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Abigail  Peabody,  who  were  natives  of  Boxford, 
Essex  county,  Mass.  His  paternal  "grandfather  was  Richard  Peabody,  of  Box- 
ford,  an  officer  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  who  had  a  command  at  Ticonderoga 
and  elsewhere.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Wood,  was  the  daughter 
of  Jonathan  Wood,  also  of  Boxford.  His  maternal  grandmother's  name  was 
Hale.  Her  family  claimed  to  be  descended  from  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Sir 
Matthew  Hale.  On  his  father's  side  he  is  descended  from  Welsh  ancestry. 
The  name  of  Peabody  (as  tradition  of  heraldry  has  it)  is  composed  of  two 
words, — pea,  meaning  mountain,  and  hoadie,  meaning  man,  —  and  signifies 
mountain  man,  or  man  of  the  mountains.  It  was  first  borne  by  a  chieftain  of  a 
clan  in  the  mountains  of  Wales.  After  the  battle  between  Nero  and  Boadicea, 
about  the  year  61,  the  Queen's  forces,  although  routed,  refused  to  surrender,  and 
such  of  them  as  escaped  the  sword  of  the  Romans  fled  to  the  mountains,  and 
there  maintained  a  wild  independence  under  a  chieftain,  who,  from  that  fact, 
acquired  the  name  of  Peabody,  or  man  of  the  mountains. 

The  father  of  our  subject,  who  was  a  lawyer  of  fine  talents,  and  much 
respected  as  a  gentleman  of  high  moral  and  social  qualities  and  much  general 
culture,  was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  the  class  of  1803.  He  was 
a  college-mate  of  Daniel  Webster  and  Ezekiel  the  cherished  brother,  whose  name 
Daniel  desired  always  to  have  associated  with  his  own.  An  intimacy  between 
himself  and  Ezekiel,  contracted  in  college,  continued  throughout  their  lives.  He 
lived  and  practiced  law  in  Sandwich,  Epsom,  and  Tarn  worth,  N.  H.,  at  difi"erent 
periods  of  his  life;  and,  after  retiring  from  business,  moved  to  Andover,  Mass., 
in  his  native  county,  for  the  better  education  of  his  younger  children,  about 
1843,  where  he  died  in  1859.  His  wife  survived  him,  and  died  at  Andover 
in  1872. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  —  the  oldest  of  ten  children  —  was  educated 
partly  by  private  tuition  at  his  father's  house,  partly  in  Massachusetts,  and  partly 
in  the  classical  schools  (academies)  in  the  northern  part  of  New  Hampshire, — 
at  Wolfeborough,  Gilford,  Sanbornton  (now  Tilton),  and  Gilmanton.  He  fitted 
for  college  with  the  intention  of  entering  Dartmouth,  the  alma  mater  of  his 
father.  Failure  of  health  at  the  critical  time  defeated  that  purpose,  however, 
and  had  almost  unlimited  control  over  his  movements  and  destiny  for  a  time 
much  longer  than  the  term  of  a  college  course.  In  the  years  1832  and  1833  he 
lived  most  of  the  time  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  where  he  taught  and  studied  as  health 
and  circumstances  permitted.  In  1834  he  went  to  Baltimore,  attracted  by  advan- 
tages of  climate  over  northern  New  Hampshire,  and  the  greater  facilities  afforded 
there  for  his  temporary  occupation  of  teaching,  by  which  to  support  himself  and 
render  needed  pecuniary  aid  in  the  education  of  younger  members  of  the  family. 
There  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Nathaniel  Williams,  at  that 


210  HON.    CHARLES    A.    PEABODY. 

time  attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  district  of  Maryland.  He  remained 
in  Maryhind  a  littk'  more  than  two  years,  when  he  returned  to  New  England  and 
entered  the  law  school  of  Harvard  University.  He  remained  there  until  1839, 
when  he  went,  in  November  oi"  1839,  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  There  he  entered  an  office  as  a  student,  introduced  by  the  late 
Rufus  Choate,  of  Boston.  But  he  soon  commenced  business  as  a  practitioner  at 
the  bar.  In  184G  he  married  Julia  Caroline  Livingston,  daughter  of  James 
Duane  Livingston,  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Peabody  continued  the  practice  of  law  in  the  city  of  New  York,  taking- 
no  active  part  in  politics,  but  always  observing  with  interest  the  course  of  events 
in  the  general  government,  and  especially  those  connected  with  slavery  and  the 
slave  power.  He  was  an  unconditional  Whig,  and  his  residence  at  the  South  in 
early  life  had  given  him  su(;h  knowledge  of  slaver}^,  in  its  effect  on  the  slave,  tlie 
owner,  the  free  population,  white  and  colored,  and  on  general  prosperity,  that  he 
early  formed  very  positive  opinions  concerning  it  and  its  very  great  evils.  On 
this,  as  on  all  other  subjects,  he  was  conservative  and  temperate  in  his  opinions 
and  feelings,  taking  no  part  in  extravagant  denunciations  of  those  engaged  in  it, 
but  always  deprecating  such  courses  as  being,  to  his  mind,  not  only  inexpedient 
and  unwise,  but  also  unjust.  AVith  the  strongest  possible  convictions  against 
slavery  on  all  grounds,  moral  and  economic,  he  counseled  moderation  in  the  treat- 
ment of  it.  He  was  ever  opposed  to  intemperate  agitation,  as  tending  to  no 
good,  but  liable  to  lead  to  great  evil.  He  was  for  years  prior  to  the  formation  of 
the  Republican  party  an  active  member  of  the  LTnion  Safety  committee  in  New 
York,  a  body  of  conservative  gentlemen  of  the  highest  character,  organized  to 
repress  acrimonious  treatment  of  the  subject,  as  tending  to  alienate  the  different 
sections  of  the  country,  and  to  imperil  the  peace  and  possibly  the  integrity  of 
the  nation. 

When  the  Republican  party  was  organized,  adopting  as  its  principles  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  that  it  might  remain  undisturbed  where  it  then  existed,  but 
should  on  no  condition  be  extended  into  territory  where  it  did  not  then  exist,  he 
accepted  those  views  as  the  best  terms  for  freedom  to  be  obtained  peaceably,  and 
perhaps  the  best  the  lovers  of  freedom  were  warranted  under  the  constitution  in 
demanding.  In  1855  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which  organized  the 
Republican  party  of  the  state  of  New  York.  In  the  same  year  he  was  the  can- 
didate of  the  Republican  party  for  election  as  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of 
the  state,  to  succeed  Robert  H.  Morris,  but  his  party  was  in  the  minority.  In 
the  same  year  (1855)  he  was  appointed,  by  the  governor  of  the  state,  justice  of 
the  supreme  court,  as  the  successor  of  Henry  P.  Edwards,  deceased.  In  185C 
he  was  appointed  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  to  fill  a  vacancy 
created  by  the  resignation  of  James  R.  Whiting.  In  1857  he  was  again  the 
candidate  of  the  Republican  party  for  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  but  the 
party  was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  elect  him.  He  served  on  the  bench  of 
the  supreme  court  the  terms  for  which  he  was  appointed,  and  received  more  than 
the  votes  of  his  party  at  the  times  he  was  nominated  for  election. 

While  serving  as  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  and  when  his  term  in  that 
court  was  about  to  expire,  he  was  offered,  by  the  governor,  the  appointment  of 
city  judge.  This  would  have  made  him  judge  of  the  court  of  general  sessions, 
the  principal  criminal  court  of  the  city,  having  jurisdiction  of  cases  of  the 
highest  class.  This  appointment  he  did  not  accept.  In  1858  he  was  appointed, 
by  the  governor  of  New  York,  commissioner  of  quarantine,  to  succeed  Ex-Gov. 
Horatio  Seymour,  with  authority  to  abolish  the  then  present  station  and  erect  a 
new  one  elsewhere,  as  the  commission  might  decide.  His  associates  in  this  com- 
mission w^ere   men   of   the  highest  character,  and  the   commission  was   one   of 


HON.    CHAKLES    A.    PEABODY.  211 

importance  at  the  time, — just  after  tlic  quarantine  buildings  had  been  destroyed 
by  a  terror-stricken  mob,  and  the  wildest  fears  that  contagious  (liseases  might  be 
transmitted  from  such  a  station  had  taken  possession  of  many  minds. 

In  1862  he  was  appointed,  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States,  judge  of  the  United  States  Provisional  Court  for  the  state  of  Louisiana. 
This  court  was  called  into  existence  by  the  necessities  of  the  federal  government 
in  respect  to  its  foreign  relations,  after  the  conquest  of  New  Orleans  and  other 
parts  of  Louisiana  by  the  army  of  the  United  States,  during  the  late  w^ar  of  the 
rebellion,  and  while  that  territory  was  held  in  military  occupation.  A  large  part 
of  the  population  of  New  Orleans  and  Louisiana  was  persons  of  foreign  birth 
and  allegiance,  having  claims  on  their  respective  governments  for  the  protection 
of  their  rights.  Those  governments,  when  appealed  to,  made  demands  through 
their  ministers,  resident  at  Washington,  on  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  number  and  importance  of  these  claims  had  become  so  great  that  the 
state  department  was  much  embarrassed  by  them.  Mr.  Seward,  secretary  of 
state,  had  been  more  than  half  his  time  since  the  conquest  occupied  by  theui, 
and  they  had,  in  some  instances,  assumed  such  proportions  as  to  threaten  seri- 
ously the  relations  of  the  government  with  foreign  powers.  In  this  condition  of 
things  it  was  resolved  to  constitute  a  tribunal  which  should  be  empowered  to  de- 
cide all  these  (juestions,  and  keep  them  from  the  department.  Accordingly,  the 
government  resolved  to  establish  a  court  at  New  Orleans,  which  should  have 
power  to  hear  and  determine  every  question  which  could  possibly  arise  out  of 
human  transactions,  and  to  make  the  decisions  of  that  court  conclusive  of  the 
rights  of  all  parties.  To  effect  that  purpose,  the  following  order  was  made  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States :  — 

EXECUTIVE    ORDER, 

ESTABLISHING    A    PROVISIONAL    COUET    IN    LOUISIANA. 

Executive  Mansion,  ) 

WASHlN(iTON,  October  -20,  1862.  ' 
The  insurrection  whic-li  lias  for  some  time  prevailed  in  several  of  the  states  of  this 
I'nion,  inehuling  Louisiana,  having  teniporarilj-  subverted  and  swept  away  the  civil  Institu- 
tions of  that  state,  including  the  judiciary  and  the  judicial  authorities  of  the  Union,  so  that  it 
has  become  necessary  to  hold  the  state  in  military  occupation:  and  it  being  indispensablj' 
neeessarj-  that  there  shall  be  some  judicial  tribunal  existing  there  capable  of  administering 
justice,  I  have,  therefore,  thought  it  proper  to  appoint,  and  1  do  hereby  constitute,  a  Provi- 
sional Court,  which  shall  be  a  court  of  record  for  the  state  of  Louisiana,  and  I  do  hereby 
appoint  Charles  A.  Peabody,  of  New  York,  to  be  a  provisional  judge  to  hold  said  court,  with 
authority  to  hear,  try,  and  deteraiine  all  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  including  causes  in  law, 
C(|uity,  revenue,  and  admiralty,  *  *  *  his  judgment  to  be  final  and  conclusive.  And  I  do 
hereby  authorize  and  empower  the  said  judge  to  make  and  establish  such  rules  and  regula- 
tions as  may  be  necessary  for  the  exercise  of  his  jurisdiction,  and  to  appoint  a  prosecuting 
attorney,  marshal,  and  clerk  of  the  said  court,  who  shall  perform  the  functions  of  attorney, 
marshal,  and  clerk,  according  to  such  iiiles  and  regulations  as  may  be  made  and  established 
by  .said  judge.  *  *  *  A  copy  of  this  order,  certified  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  deliv- 
ered to  such  judge,  shall  be  deemed  and  held  to  be  a  sufficient  commission.    Let  the  seal 

of  the  United  States  be  hereunto  afHxed. 

ABIJAHAM    LINCOLN. 

By  the  President  : 

WlLl.tAM  11.  Sewark,  Secretary  of  Slate. 

The  powers  conferred  by  this  order,  it  will  be  seen,  are  as  great  as  can  be 
conferred  by  sovereignty  itself,  —  "to  hear,  try,  and  determine  all  causes,  civil 
and  criminal,  including  causes  in  law,  equity,  revenue,  and  admiralty,  *  *  * 
his  judgment  to  be  final  and  conclusive."  Under  this  commission,  Judge 
Peabody  proceeded  to  organize  his  court  by  appointing  his  prosecuting  attorney. 


212  HON.    CHARLES    A.    PEABODT. 

marshal,  and  clerk.  Thus  organized  in  New  York,  the  court  proceeded,  by  gov- 
ernment transport,  to  New  Orleans,  and  commenced  business.  It  was  immediately 
filled  with  causes  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  continued  throughout  its  existence 
to  attract  almost  all  of  that  class  of  business.  The  court  held  that  it  had  jurisdic- 
tion not  only  of  cases  originating  in  it,  but  that  it  had  power  to  review  on  appeal 
cases  originating  in  other  courts.  It  also  ordered  causes  pending  and  undecided 
in  other  courts  transferred  to  itself,  and  there  decided  and  ended  them.  A  cause 
pending  in  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  on  appeal  from  the  district 
court  of  the  United  States,  was  transferred  by  order  of  this  court  and  decided. 
(The  G-rapeshot,  0  Wallace  129).  Mr.  Seward,  as  he  and  Chief-Justice  Chase 
were  dining  with  Judge  Peabody,  speaking  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States,  said  for  the  ear  of  the  chief-justice  :  "  His  court  has  some  power  in  time 
of  peace,  no  doubt,  but  none  in  time  of  war.  It  is  limited  to  a  small  class  of 
cases,  and  in  those  usually  to  appellate  jurisdiction,  and  in  all  cases  it  is  bound 
by  law  prescribed  for  its  guidance ;  in  none  of  which  respects  was  Peabody's 
court  under  any  limitation  ;"  and  (turning  to  Judge  Peabody )  he  added  :  "  Why, 
Peabody,  all  the  power  of  his  court  is  not  a  circumstance  to  what  you  had  in 
Louisiana." 

The  executive  department  of  this  court  was  no  less  remarkable  than  its  juris- 
diction. The  marshal  had  at  his  command,  by  order  of  the  departments  of  war 
and  navy,  all  needed  aid  from  the  army  and  navy.  A  personal  escort  of  soldiers 
as  large  as  needed  on  land,  and  transports  and  gunboats  on  water,  were  always  at 
his  disposal,  and  nothing  was  needed  beyond  the  exhibition  of  the  process  of  the 
court  to  command  their  services.  Escorts  of  a  thousand  and  more  cavalry  were 
in  the  service  of  the  marshal  at  times,  and  similar  facilities  were  aftbrded  by  the 
gunboats  and  transports  on  the  rivers,  bayous,  and  lakes  of  that  aqueous  state. 
Even  private  commercial  vessels  plying  on  the  Mississippi  river  and  other  waters 
of  the  state  were,  by  order  of  the  war  department,  compelled  to  stop  and  take  on 
board  any  deputy  of  the  marshal,  at  any  place  where  he  should  demand  it  by 
showing  his  signal,  and  to  stop  and  land  him  wherever  he  demanded  it.  This 
they  were  required  to  do  at  all  places,  however  exposed,  and  where  vessels  were 
not  otherwise  allowed  to  land  for  business  purposes,  on  account  of  exposure  to 
the  enemy.  The  relief  to  the  department  of  state  was  complete ;  for  from  the 
time  the  court  commenced  business  nothing  was  heard  there  of  controversies 
which  had  burdened  and  alarmed  the  department  previously,  and  the  success  of 
the  court  in  other  respects  was  equally  complete,  commanding  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  community,  —  the  disloyal  as  well  as  the  loyal.  This  ofiice  he 
resigned  in  1865,  and  the  court  was  terminated  in  July,  1866,  on  his  recommen- 
dation, by  an  act  of  congress. 

In  1862,  to  meet  an  emergency,  and  to  avoid  having  the  business  of  that 
court  interrupted  by  business  of  a  different  character,  he  was  appointed  jvidge  of 
a  criminal  court  in  New  Orleans,  in  which  for  several  months  he  dispensed  all 
the  criminal  justice  administered  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  the  part  of 
Louisiana  held  by  the  federal  army,  excepting  only  capital  cases,  which  were 
always  tried  in  the  more  dignified  court  held  by  him.  In  1863,  while  holding 
the  United  States  provisional  court,  he  was  appointed  chief -justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  Louisiana, —  the  appellate  court  of  last  resort.  In  1865  he  was  ap- 
pointed, by  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  confirmed  by  the  senate, 
attorney  for  the  United  States  for  the  eastern  district  of  Louisiana.  That  office 
he  declined  to  accept,  and  he  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
New  York  as  soon  as  he  felt  at  liberty  to  retire  from  the  United  States 
provisional  court. 

In   1876  he  was   nominated  by  the  Republican   party  for  surrogate  of  the 


HON.    CHARLES    A.    PEABODY.  213 

county  of  New  York,  on  which  occasion  he  was  not  elected  ;  but  he  ran  many 
thousands  of  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket,  and  lacked  less  than  thirteen  thousand  of 
an  election,  while  the  majority  aiiainst  the  ticket  generally,  which  was  headed  by 
Gen.  John  A.  Dix  for  mayor,  himself  an  honored  son  of  New  Hampshire,  was 
more  than  fifty-four  thousand. 

He  is  now,  and  has  been  since  its  organization  many  years  ago,  a  member  of 
the  "  Association  for  the  Reform  and  Codification  of  the  Law  of  Nations,"  an 
association,  as  its  name  imports,  devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  law  gov- 
erning nations  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  composed  of  publicists  and 
advanced  students  of  the  science  of  government  from  nearly  every  nation  of 
Europe,  and  from  some  of  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  Asia,  as  well  as 
America.  In  the  proceedings  of  that  body  he  has  taken  an  active  part,  attending 
its  meetings,  which  occur  annually,  and  are  held  in  the  different  cities  of  Europe, 
as  Grhent,  Geneva,  the  Hague,  Bremen,  Antwerp,  London,  Berne,  Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine,  Cologne,  Liverpool.  He  has  always  been  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee,  and  is  now  vice-president  of  the  association  for  the  United  States,  in 
which  ofiice  he  succeeds  Charles  Francis  Adams  and  the  late  Reverdy  Johnson. 
He  has  traveled  extensively  in  Europe,  having  visited  it  frequently  in  the  sum- 
mer vacations  of  business,  and  last  year  (1881),  after  attending  the  congress  of 
the  Association  for  the  Reform  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  at  Cologne,  he  attended 
an  International  Geographical  congress  at  Venice,  as  a  delegate  from  the 
American  Geographical  Society.  He  is  now  pursuing  his  profession  in  New 
York,  as  he  has  always  done  since  he  commenced  there,  except  for  the  times  he 
has  been  acting  as  judge. 

In  his  religious  preferences  he  is  Episcopalian.  While  living  in  New  Orleans, 
in  18G3,  1864,  and  1865,  he  was  a  member  of  the  vestry  of  Christ  church  there, 
and  he  has  been  for  many  years,  and  now  is,  senior  warden  of  Christ  church, 
North  Conway,  in  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire. 

Judge  Peabody  has  married  twice.  The  first  time,  as  before  stated,  to  Julia 
Caroline  Livingston,  daughter  of  James  Duane  Livingston,  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  the  mother  of  his  children.  His  second  marriage  was  to  Maria  E. 
Hamilton,  with  whom  he  is  now  living.  This  lady,  daughter  of  John  C.  Ham- 
ilton, is  a  grand-daughter  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  favorite  aid  and  trusted 
counselor  of  General  Washington  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  first  secretary  of 
the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  the  organizer  of  that  department,  and  in  large 
measure  of  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  five  children,  who  are  now  living,  —  four  sons 
and  one  daughter.  His  sons  are  all  graduates  of  college  and  professional  schools. 
Three  of  them  are  lawyers,  one  is  a  physician,  and  all  reside  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  One  of  them  bears  the  name  of  Glendower  (Philip  Glendower),  after 
the  Welsh  chieftain,  Owen  Glendower,  in  recognition  of  the  Welsh  origin 
of  the  family. 

As  has  been  said.  Judge  Peabody  was  the  oldest  of  ten  children,  having  had 
five  brothers  and  four  sisters,  all  natives  of  New  Hampshire.  Of  his  bi'others, 
only  one  survives  with  him.  Dr.  William  F.  Peabody,  of  San  Francisco,  a  doctor 
of  medicine,  a  biographical  sketch  of  whom  should  form  a  part  of  this  volume. 
Dr.  Peabody  was  for  a  time  Professor  of  Languages  in  Mount  Hope  College, 
Baltimore,  following  thither  his  older  brother  while  the  latter  was  teaching  and 
studying  his  profession  there.  The  Doctor  studied  his  profession  in  Baltimore, 
and  practiced  there  for  a  time ;  but  in  the  very  early  days  of  California  emigra- 
tion removed  thither,  where  he  still  resides,  commanding  much  respect  as  a  gen- 
tleman of  high  moral  and  social  character  and  much  literary  taste,  as  well  as  an 
able  physician.     Two  of  his  brothers,  George  S.  Peabody  and  Enoch  W.  Peabody. 


214  HON".    CHARLES    A.    PEABODY. 

after  the  8ubje(;t  of  this  sketch,  tlie  pioneer  of  the  family,  had  locatefl  in  New 
York,  became  shipmasters  of  distinction  in  the  "ohl"  or  "  Black  Ball "  line  of 
Liverpool  packets  sailing  from  New  York,  in  the  days  when  those  ships  were  the 
pride  of  the  nation,  and  the  command  of  one  was  equivalent  to  a  certificate  of  the 
liighest  character  for  efficiency  and  reliable  qualities.  Of  the  sisters,  three  sur- 
vive and  live  in  Andover,  Mass.,  the  last  place  of  residence  of  their  parents. 

Noi'K.  —Judge  Peabody's  Judicial  life  has  been  sufHcicntly  varied  and  uncoinnion  to  at- 
tract rcinarli.  He  lias  been  twice  justice  of  the  sujirenie  court  of  the  state  of  New  Vorli,  liy 
apiiointuient  of  the  governor,  and  was  olTereil  a  ptace  on  the  1)encli  of  another  court,  which 
lie  did  not  accept:  lie  lias  been  ajipoiiited  judge  of  tliree  different  courts  l)y  tlie  federal  gov- 
ernment of  the  I'liiti^l  States;  he  has  l)eeu  three  times  the  nominee  and  candidate  of  his 
party  for  other  judicial  places,  —  twice  for  the  bench  of  tlu?  supreme  court  of  tlie  state  of 
New  York,  and  once  for  suri-ogate  of  tlie  city  and  county  of  New  Yor]<. 


i      Q_^2^^Ai-^^^'t--C'-^!^'^/^ 


OILMAN  CHENEY. 


The  postal,  passenger,  and  express  cars,  representing  respectively  govern- 
ment, corporate,  and  private  enterprise,  constitute  a  trinity  which  has  annihi- 
lated space  and  made  possible  the  business  progress  of  the  last  fifty  years.  The 
third  is  the  creature  of  a  few  men,  among  whom  the  Cheney  brothers  of  New 
Hampshire  arc  most  conspicuous. 

Their  grandfather.  Deacon  Tristram  Cheney,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Antrim,  he  having  come  from  Dedham,  Mass.,  in  170!),  and  located  near  the 
Hillsborough  line.  His  son  Jesse,  who  married,  first.  Miss  Blanchard,  of  West 
Deering,  and,  afterwards,  Deborah  Winchester,  of  Hillsborough,  located  his 
homestead  near  Cork  Eidge,  on  what  is  known  as  the  Dimond  Dodge  place,  where 
there  were  born  to  him  nine  children,  of  whom  Benjamin  P.,  James  S.,  and 
Grilman  are  the  three  who  have  made  "  Cheney's  Express"  a  familiar  phrase  in 
every  city  and  village  in  New  England  and  Canada. 

Grilman  was  the  fifth  child.  He  was  born  January  25,  1822,  and  until  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age  worked  at  farming  in  the  vicinity  of  his  native  town. 
At  that  age  he  had  a  little  knowledge  of  books,  a  strong  constitution,  and  an 
abundant  stock  of  courage  and  ambition,  with  which  he  left  home  to  make  a  place 
for  himself  in  the  business  world.  For  the  next  ten  years  he  was  slowly  gather- 
ing capital,  experience,  and  knowledge  of  men  and  things  in  the  cotton-mills  of 
Nashua,  Newburyport,  and  IManchester  ;  and,  while  filling  his  place  to  the  satis- 
faction of  his  employers,  he  could  not  find  there  the  opportunity  he  wished,  and, 
in  search  of  a  wider  and  more  promising  field  for  action,  went  to  California. 
Here  he  crowded  three  years  very  full  of  adventure  and  jjusiness  success,  and 
then  returned  to  assist  his  brothers  in  extending  the  express  system,  which  was 
then  in  its  infancy.  He  was  assigned  to  the  Canadian  division,  and,  establishing 
his  headquarters  at  Montreal,  he  gave  himself  heartily  to  the  work,  and  has  since 
been  thoroughly  identified  with  the  enterprise.  His  position  is  that  of  superin- 
tendent of  the  Canadian  'Express  Company,  which  covers  the  territory  and  con- 
trols the  express  business  between  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  the  seaboard  at  Portland, 
Halifax,  and  St.  John's,  and  also  an  ocean  route  by  the  Allan  line  of  steam- 
ships to  Europe.  He  is  also  largely  interesred  in  the  American  and  Wells  Si, 
Fargo  express  companies. 

The  home  of  Mr.  Cheney  is  in  Montreal,  where  he  extends  a  warm  and  princely 
welcome  to  hosts  of  frii'nds,  and  especially  to  those  who  were  fortunate  enough 
to  have  known  him  in  his  boyhood  days  in  New  Hampshire.  He  married  Mary 
Ann  Lincoln  Kiddle,  daughter  of  James  Kiddle,  Esq.,  of  Merrimack.  His  only 
child,  William  Gr.  Cheney,  was  born  October  12.  1858. 

Mr.  Cheney  has  been  a  very  successful  man.  The  enterprise  with  which  his 
name  is  identified  has  grown  great  and  strong.  It  has  made  its  owner  rich, 
it  has  given  employment  to  thousands  of  men  at  remunerative  wages,  and  it 
has  made   it  easier  and  more  profitable    for  others  to  do  their   business.     He 


216  GLLMAN    CHENEY. 

deserves  all  the  good  things  he  has  received,  for  he  is  a  true  man.  In  every 
relation  of  life,  in  boyhood  and  manhood,  in  business  and  pleasure,  he  has 
challenged  only  the  affection  and  admiration  of  those  interested  in  him.  His 
integrity  is  inborn,  his  good-nature  never  fails,  and  his  energy  never  tires. 
He  never  disappoints  his  friends  ;  and  he  has  no  enemies. 


HON.  EDWARD  H.  ROLLINS. 


COMPILED    FROM    VARIOUS    SOURCES,    AVITH    SOME    ADDITIONS, 
BY    HON.    DANIEL    HALL. 


The  Rollins  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  numerous  in  the  state.  In 
southeastern  New  Hampshire,  from  the  seaboard  to  Lake  Winnipesaukee,  the 
Rollins  name  is  prominent  in  the  history  of  almost  every  town.  Most,  if  not  all, 
the  representatives  of  the  name  in  this  region,  and  among  them  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  are  the  descendants  of  James  Rollins  (or  Raiclins,  as  the  name  was 
then  and  for  a  long  time  after  spelled,  and  is  now  by  some  branches  of  the 
family),  who  came  to  America  in  1032,  with  the  first  settlers  of  Ipswich,  Mass., 
and  who,  ten  or  twelve  years  afterwards,  located  in  that  portion  of  old  Dover 
known  as  "  Bloody  Point,"  now  embraced  in  the  town  of  Newington,  where  he 
died  about  1690.  The  representatives  of  the  family  suffered  their  full  share  in 
the  privations  and  sacrifices  incident  to  the  fii-m  establishment  of  the  colony,  and 
performed  generous  public  service  in  the  early  Indian  and  French  wars,  and  the 
great  Revolutionary  contest.  Ichabod,  the  eldest  son  of  James  Rawlins,  and  of 
whom  Edward  H.  is  a  lineal  descendant,  was  waylaid  and  killed  by  a  party  of 
Indians,  while  on  the  way  from  Dover  to  Oyster  River  (now  Durham),  with  one 
John  Bunker,  May  22,  1707.  Thomas,  the  second  son  of  James,  who  subse- 
quently became  a  resident  of  Exeter,  was  a  member  of  the  famous  "  dissolved 
assembly"  of  1G83,  who  took  up  arms  under  Edward  Gove  and  endeavored  to 
incite  an  insurrection  against  the  tyrannical  royal  governor,  Cranfield.  For  this 
attempt,  Grove  and  others,  including  Thomas  Rawlins,  were  presented  for  high 
treason.  Gove  was  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  death,  but  was  subse- 
quently pardoned.  We  do  not  learn,  however,  that  any  of  the  others  were  tried. 
Others  of  the  family  fell  victirm^i  to  the  murderous  malignity  of  the  Indians. 

There  were  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  descendants  of  James  Rawlins,  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  generations,  engaged  in  active  service,  and  several  of  them  in 
distinguished  capacities,  in  the  patriot  cause  during  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Among  the  first  settlers  of  that  portion  of  Dover  which  afterwards  became 
Somersworth,  was  Jeremiah  Rollins,  the  only  son  of  Ichabod,  heretofore  men- 
tioned as  slain  by  the  Indians.  He  was  one  of  the  petitioners  for  the  incorpo- 
ration of  Somersworth  as  a  separate  parish.  He  died  a  few  years  previous  to  the 
Revolution,  leaving  several  daughters,  but  only  one  son,  Ichabod  Rollins,  who 
became  an  active  champion  of  the  Revolutionary  cause,  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
ventions at  Exeter  in  1775,  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  prepare  a  plan  of  providing  ways  and  means  for  furnishing  troops,  and  also 
as  a  member  of  the  committee  of  supplies,  the  principal  labor  upon  which  was 
performed  by  himself  and  Timothy  Walker  of  Concord.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  convention  which  resolved  itself  into  an  independent  state  government,  Jan- 
uary 5.  1776.  and  served  in  the  legislature  in  October  following.  He  was  the 
15 


218  HON.    EDWAKD   H.    ROLLINS. 

first  judge  of  probate  under  the  new  government,  holding  the  office  from  177C 
to  1784.  He  was  subseqently  a  member  of  the  executive  council,  and  died  in 
1800.  From  this  eminent  citizen,  the  town  of  Rollinsford,  formed  from  the 
portion  of  Somersworth  in  which  he  resided,  received  its  name.  He  stands 
midway  in  the  direct  line  of  descent  from  James  Rawlins  to  Edward  H.,  —  the 
great-grandson  of  James,  and  great-grandfather  of  P]dward  H.  He  had  four 
sons,  of  whom  John,  the  oldest,  was  the  grandfather  of  Hon.  Daniel  G.  Rollins, 
who  was  judge  of  probate  for  tlie  county  of  Strafford,  from  1857  to  18GG,  and 
whose  son,  Edward  Ashton  Rollins,  wa.s  speaker  of  the  New  Hampshire  house  of 
representatives  in  IHtJl  and  1802,  commissioner  of  internal  revenue  under 
President  Johnson,  and  is  now  president  of  the  Centennial  Bank  at  Philadel- 
phia ;  and  another  son,  Daniel  G.  Rollins,  was  recently  district  attorney,  and  is 
now  surrogate  of  the  city  and  county  of  New  York.  James  Rollins,  the  third 
son  of  Ichabod,  and  grandfather  of  Edward  H.,  settled  upon  the  farm  in  Rol- 
linsford which  has  since  remained  the  family  homestead.  He  was  the  father  of 
thirteen  children,  seven  sons  and  six  daughters.  Of  these,  Daniel  Rollins,  the 
eighth  child,  born  May  30,  1797,  and  who  married  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  Plumer,  of  Rollinsford,  was  the  father  of  Edward  H.  He  succeeded 
to  the  homestead,  but  sold  out  and  went  to  Maine  with  a  view  to  making  his 
home  there.  He  soon  returned,  and  repurchased  that  part  of  the  homestead 
lying  east  of  the  highway,  and  erected  a  dwelling  opposite  the  old  family  man- 
sion, where  he  lived  a  life  of  sturdy  industry,  rearing  a  family  of  six  children,  four 
sons  and  two  daughters,  and  died  January  7,  1804. 

Edward  Henry  Rollins,  the  oldest  of  the  children,  was  born  October  3, 
1824.  He  lived  at  home,  laboring  upon  the  farm  in  the  summer  season,  attend- 
ing the  district  school  in  winter,  and  getting  an  occasional  term's  attendance  at 
the  vSouth  Berwick  Academy,  and  Franklin  Academy  in  Dover,  until  seventeen 
years  of  age,  when  he  went  to  Concord  and  engaged  as  druggist's  clerk  in  the 
well  known  apothecary  store  of  John  McDaniel.  He  retained  his  situation  some 
three  or  four  years,  industriously  applying  himself  to  the  details  of  the  business. 
He  then  went  to  Boston,  where  he  was  engaged  in  similar  service  until  1847, 
when,  having  thoroughly  mastered  the  business,  he  returned  to  Concord  and  went 
into  trade  on  his  own  account,  soon  building  up  a  large  and  successful  business. 
Having  bought  and  improved  the  land  on  Main  street,  just  north  of  the  Eagle 
Hotel,  the  great  fire  of  1851  destroyed  the  building  which  he  had  but  recently 
finished.  He  rebuilt  the  stores  known  as  '•  Rollins's  Block,"  one  of  which  was 
occupied  by  his  own  business  for  so  many  years.  This  property  he  sold  a  short 
time  since  to  the  New  Hampshire  Savings  Bank. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Rollins  was  originally  a  Webster  Whig,  but  voted  for  Frank- 
lin Pierce  in  1852,  and  for  Nathaniel  B.  Baker,  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
governor,  at  the  next  March  election.  The  aggressions  of  slavery,  however, 
culminating  in  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  and  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  dissolved  his  brief  connection  with  the  Democratic  party. 
Strongly  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  or  any  measures  rendering  its 
extension  possible,  though  he  had  previously  taken  no  active  part  in  politics,  he 
enlisted  in  the  American  or  Know-Nothing  movement,  in  the  winter  of  1854-55, 
with  the  hope  that  it  might,  as  it  did,  prove  instrumental  in  the  defeat  of  the 
Democracy. 

From  this  time  Mr.  Rollins  was  an  active  politician.  He  labored  eftectively 
in  perfecting  the  new  party  organization,  taking  therein  the  liveliest  interest.  At 
the  March  election,  1855,  he  was  chosen  to  the  legislature  from  Concord,  and 
served  efficiently  in  that  body  as  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee.  The 
next  year  witnessed  the  merging  of  the  American  party  in   the   new  Republican 


HON.    EDWARD    H.    ROLLINS.  219 

party,  which  object  Mr.  Rollins  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing.  Re- 
elected to  the  legislature  in  March,  185(J,  Mr.  Rollins  was  chosen  speaker  of  the 
house,  ably  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  was  re-elected  the  following 
year.  The  talent  which  he  had  already  developed  as  a  political  organizer  made 
his  services  eminently  desirable  as  a  campaign  manager,  and  he  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  first  state  central  committee  of  the  Republican  party,  a  position  which 
he  held  continuously  until  his  election  to  congress  in  18G1,  and  in  which  he  ex- 
hibited a  capacity  for  thorough  organization,  — a  mastery  of  campaign  work,  in 
general  and  in  detail,  — seldom  equaled  and  certainly  never  surpassed. 

He  was  chairman  of  the  New  Hampshire  delegation  in  the  Republican  na- 
tional convention  at  Chicago,  in  1860,  having  been  chosen  a  delegate  at  large  by 
the  state  convention,  with  but  a  single  vote  in  opposition.  In'  the  close  contest 
between  the  friends  of  Lincoln  and  Seward  in  that  convention,  the  New  Hamp- 
shire delegation,  under  his  lead,  supported  Lincoln  from  the  first,  and  was 
strongly  instrumental  in  securing  his  nomination. 

In  18G1,  Mr.  Rollins  was  elected  to  congress  from  the  second  district,  over 
the  Democratic  candidate,  the  late  Chief-Justice  Samuel  D.  Bell.  He  was  re- 
elected in  1863,  over  Col.  John  H.  George,  and  in  1865  over  Hon.  Lewis  W. 
Clark,  now  associate  justice  of  the  supreme  court.  Mr.  Rollins's  congressional 
career  covered  the  exciting  period  of  the  late  civil  war,  and  subsequent  recon- 
struction, and  he  was  throughout  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  most  advanced  Re- 
publican measures,  such  as  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  amendments  to  the  constitution,  abolishino- 
slavery  throughout  the  Union,  conferring  citizenship  and  civil  rights  upon  col- 
ored men,  fixing  the  basis  of  representation  in  congress  upon  all  citizens,  without 
regard  to  color  or  previous  condition,  imposing  political  disabilities  upon  such 
civil  and  military  officers  of  the  government  as  had  violated  their  oaths  by  en- 
gaging in  the  rebellion,  declaring  the  inviolability  of  the  public  debt,  and  pro- 
hibiting forever  the  payment  of  that  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion 
against  the  United  States.  To  this  entire  policy  Mr.  Rollins  gave  a  most  earnest 
support,  and  took  part  zealously  and  efficiently  in  all  the  important  legislation  of 
those  days.  He  was  an  industrious  member  of  the  committees  to  which  he  was 
assigned,  serving  on  the  committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  Accounts,  and  a  member  of  the  committee  on  Public  Expendi- 
tures, by  which  latter  committee,  during  his  service,  a  vast  amount  of  labor  was 
performed,  especially  in  the  investigation  of  the  management  of  the  New  York 
and  Boston  custom-houses,  involving  the  operations  of  the  "  blockade  runners  " 
during  the  war.  He  was  also,  on  account  of  his  well  known  parliamentary 
knowledge  and  skill,  frequently  called  to  the  chair  to  preside  over  the  house  oiq 
turbulent  occasions. 

In  view  of  Mr.  Rollins's  subsequent  intimate  connection  with  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  in  congress  he  was  a  firm 
opponent  of,  and  voted  against,  the  measure  adopted  in  July,  186-4,  doubling  the 
land  grant  of  this  company,  and  making  the  government  security  a  se^cond 
instead  of  a  first  mortgage  upon  the  road.  In  1869  he  was  chosen  secretary  and 
assistant  treasurer  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  having  for  some  time  previous, 
after  the  expiration  of  his  congressional  service,  acted  as  agent  of  the  company 
at  Washington  in  the  transaction  of  business  with  the  government,  especially  in 
receiving  the  subsidy  bonds.  In  1871  he  was  elected  secretary  and  treasurer, 
and  officiated  as  such  in  the  office  of  the  company  at  Boston  until  March,  1877, 
though  retaining  his  residence  at  Concord,  and  devoting  considerable  attention  to 
New  Hampshire  politics.  He  had,  after  retiring  from  congress,  been  again  called 
to  the   chairmanship  of  the  state  committee,  and  served  from   1868  to  1871 


220  HON.    EDWARD    H.    ROLLINS. 

inclusive,  with  his  usual  ability  and  success.  As  chairman  of  the  committee,  and 
c'x  officio  commander-in-chief  of  the  Republican  forces  in  New  Hampshire  for 
ten  years,  he  was  a  tireless  worker,  —  the  very  incarnation  of  energy  and  per- 
sistent industry.  He  had  a  genius  for  political  organization  and  warfare.  His 
vigor  and  magnetisni  surmounted  all  obstacles  and  swept  away  all  opposition. 
His  enthusiasm  was  contagious.  Undaunted  by  suggestions  of  danger  or  defeat, 
he  inspired  all  around  him  witli  his  own  indomitable  courage  and  spirit.  This 
was  the  secret  of  his  extraordinary  power,  as  it  ever  is  in  the  worlds  affairs,  and 
made  him  master  of  every  field  where  he  contended. 

Mr.  liollins's  name  was  presented  by  his  friends  for  United  States  senator  in 
1866,  when  Hon.  James  W.  Patterson  was  nominated  and  elected  ;  in  187U, 
when  Senator  Cragin  was  re-elected  ;  and  again,  in  1873,  when  the  choice  fell 
upon  Hon.  Bainbridge  Wadleigh.  At  the  expiration  of  Senator  Cragin's  second 
term,  in  1879,  Mr.  llollins  was  nominated  by  the  Republican  caucus,  and  elected 
as  his  successor  for  the  full  term  of  six  years,  commencing  in  March,  1877.  He 
took  his  seat  in  the  senate  at  the  extra  session,  in  the  spring  of  1877,  and  was  as- 
signed to  the  committees  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  Contingent  Expenses,  and 
Manufactures,  being  for  a  time  chairman  of  the  latter.  He  is  now  a  member  of 
the  committee  on  Naval  Affairs,  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  on  Retrenchment 
and  Reform  in  the  Civil  Service,  on  Enrolled  Bills,  and  is  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds.  As  a  senator,  he  has  exhibited  con- 
stantly his  peculiar  traits  of  industry,  energy,  and  fidelity  to  duty.  Engaging  in 
debate  less  than  some  other  senators,  and  never  parading  before  the  country  for 
effect,  he  yet  speaks  on  all  proper  occasions,  and  always  to  the  business  in  hand, 
and  with  characteristic  force,  point,  and  effectiveness.  He  is  seldom  absent  from 
his  seat,  responds  to  every  roll-call,  and  but  few  questions  have  arisen  since  his 
service  began  on  which  his  vote  is  not  recorded.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  that 
during  more  than  five  years'  service  in  the  senate  he  has  been  absent  but  two 
days  when  both  branches  of  congress  were  in  session,  and  then  was  sick  in  bed 
with  malarial  fever.  No  senator  has  a  clearer  or  cleaner  record  in  this  respect. 
His  devotion  to  his  state  and  constituents  is  very  marked.  Every  letter  is 
answered,  every  call  responded  to,  and  every  New  Hampshire  man  dwelling  in  or 
visiting  Washington  is  treated  by  him  with  courtesy,  and  his  business  with  the 
government  carefully  attended  to  and  furthered  by  his  active  assistance.  Among 
the  measures  of  special  interest  to  the  people  of  New  Hampshire,  in  which  he 
has  taken  a  leading  part,  are  those  for  the  relief  of  savings  banks  from  national 
taxation,  and  appropriations  for  the  improvement  of  Cochecho,  Exeter,  and 
Lamprey  rivers.  No  senator  in  the  chamber  gives  more  assiduous  attention  to 
the  work  of  the  committees,  where  measures  are  matured,  or  has  a  more  useful 
influence  upon  general  legislation  ;  and  his  friends  feel  a  just  pride  in  the  fact 
that  in  a  somewhat  venal  and  very  suspicious  age  his  name  is  untainted  by  any 
schemes  of  corruption  or  jobbery,  or  scandals  touching  the  use  of  public  money. 
Such  are  the  outlines  of  INIr.  Rollins's  conspicuous  public  career.  His  influ- 
ence may  be  truly  summarized  by  saying  that  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  no 
man  in  New  Hampshire  has  been  more  prominently  known  in  the  politics  of  the 
state,  and  well  informed  men  in  all  parties  concede  that  the  Republican  party 
owes  more,  for  its  almost  unbroken  successes  in  the  closely  contested  elections 
from  1856  to  the  present  time,  to  his  labors,  in  the  committee,  in  congress,  and 
before  the  people,  than  to  those  of  any  other  man. 

Mr.  Rollins  was  active  in  the  organization  of  the  First  National  Bank  at 
Concord,  a  large  stockholder,  and  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  directors,  but 
withdrew  and  disposed  of  his  stock  some  time  since.  He  sold  his  drug  busi- 
ness at   Concord   to  his  brother,  John   F.   Rollins,  many  years  ago,  when   his 


HON.    EDWARD    H.    ROLLINS.  221 

congressional  and  other  duties  required  bis  entire  attention.  The  latter,  also,  has 
since  disposed  of  the  business,  and  now  resides  upon  Fort  George  island,  at  the 
mouth  of  St.  John's  river,  on  the  coast  of  Florida,  of  which  Senator  Rollins  is 
the  proprietor.  This  island  is  a  most  romantic  locality,  and  is  the  subject  of  a 
very  interesting  illustrated  sketch  in  Scribner's  Magazine,  by  Julia  B.  Dodge.  It 
embraces  twelve  liundred  acres  of  land,  and  is  admirably  adapted  to  orange-raising, 
and  is  under  cultivation  for  that  purpose.  The  climate  is  delightful,  far  superior 
to  that  of  the  main  land,  and  Mr.  John  F.  Rollins,  by  a  long  residence  there, 
finds  his  health  much  improved. 

Mr.  Rollins  was  united  in  marriage,  February  13,  1849,  with  Miss  Ellen  E. 
West,  daughter  of  John  West,  of  Concord.  Her  mother,  Mrs.  West,  was  the 
daughter  of  Gen.  John  Montgomery,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Haverhill,  well 
known  in  public  affairs.  To  this  union  there  have  been  born  five  children 
Edward  W.,  born  November  25,  1850  ;  Mary  Helen,  September  4,  1853 
Charles  Montgomery,  February  27,  1856  ;  Frank  West,  February  24,  1860 
Montgomery,  August  25,  1867.  The  second  son,  Charles  Montgomery,  died  at 
the  age  of  five  years.  The  other  children  survive.  The  eldest  son,  Edward  W., 
is  a  graduate  of  the  Institute  of  Technology  at  Boston,  and  was  for  five  years 
the  engineer  and  cashier  of  the  Colorado  Central  Railroad.  He  is  married,  and 
now  engaged  in  business  as  a  banker  in  Denver,  Col.  Mary  Helen,  the  only 
daughter,  is  married  to  Henry  Robinson,  a  lawyer,  and  prominent  member  of  the 
present  legislature,  and  resides  iu  Concord.  Frank  W.,  the  second  surviving 
son,  after  prosecuting  a  three  years'  course  at  the  Institute  of  Technology, 
attended  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  is  now  about  completing  his  legal  studies 
in  the  ofiice  of  Hon.  John  Y.  Mugridge,  at  Concord.  Montgomery,  the  young- 
est son,  is  fitting  for  college.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Mr.  Rollins  believes  in 
practical  education  for  his  sons. 

Retaining  his  home  in  Concord,  where  he  has  always  lived  the  greater  portion 
of  the  year,  Mr.  Rollins  has  for  several  years  past  had  his  summer  home  at  the  old 
place  in  Rollinsford,  where  he  was  reared,  and  which  came  into  his  possession  after 
the  death  of  his  father  in  1864.  Here  he  has  made  many  improvements,  and 
brought  the  land  into  a  superior  state  of  cultivation.  He  thoroughly  repaired 
and  remodeled  the  house  some  six  years  ago,  and  made  it  a  very  attractive  sum- 
mer residence.  In  the  spring  of  1881,  however,  while  he  wasabsent  in  Wash- 
ington, the  house  and  all  the  buildings  on  the  farm,  with  most  of  their  contents, 
were  completely  destroyed  by  fire.  Without  delay,  Mr.  Rollins  proceeded  to 
rebuild,  and  has  erected  a  very  large  and  finely  appointed  barn  and  stable,  with 
carriage-house,  ice-house,  and  other  buildings ;  and  a  fine  house,  on  the  old  site, 
is  very  near  completion.  The  house  is  in  the  Queen  Anne  style,  most  conven- 
iently arranged,  and  finished  principally  in  hard  native  woods,  with  ornamental 
fire-places,  elaborately  carved  fire-frames,  and  frescoed  ceilings.  It  is  heated  by 
steam  and  lighted  by  gas,  has  hot  and  cold  water  conveniences,  spacious  halls, 
and  is  fitted  up  with  every  modern  improvement.  In  a  few  weeks  it  will  be  ready 
for  occupation,  and  will  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  dwellings  in  this  region, 
combining  all  the  substantial  conveniences  of  a  farm-house,  andan  elegant  home 
for  summer  and  winter,  also.  The  place  is  located  but  little  more  than  a  mile 
from  the  city  of  Dover,  where  Mr.  Rollins  goes  for  post-office  and  other  business 
accommodations,  so  that  in  the  summer  time  he  is  regarded  as  a  Dover  citizen. 
Telephonic  communication  has  been  established  between  his  house  and  the  tele- 
graph office  in  Dover.  Mr.  Rollins's  mother  is  still  living,  at  an  advanced  age, 
at  her  old  home,  and  her  youngest  daughter.  Miss  Elizabeth  W.  Rollins,  resides 
with  her. 

In  religious  faith,  Mr.  Rollins  was  reared  a   Congregationalist,  and  when  in 


222  HON.    EDWARD    H.    ROLLINS. 

Rollinsford  he  attends  worship  at  the  old  First  Parish  church  in  Dover,  where 
Rev.  Dr.  Spalding  officiates.  Mrs.  Rollins  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  in  Concord 
the  family  attend  upon  the  services  of  the  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  church. 

He  has  long  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  of  the  Blazing  Star 
Lodge,  Trinity  Chapter,  and  Mt.  Horeb  Commandry.  at  Concord,  of  which  he 
has  been  eminent  commander. 

Mr.  Rollins  is  very  fond  of  agricultur;d  pursuits,  and  works  on  his  farm  in  the 
haying  and  harvesting  seasons,  with  great  benefit  to  himself  j)hysically.  Though 
constitutionally  not  very  strong,  and  of  a  highly  nervous  temperament,  his  excel- 
lent personal  habits,  his  rural  tastes  and  simplicity  of  life,  have  enabled  him  to  do 
a  prodigious  amount  of  work  without  suffering  anything  beyond  an  occasional 
derangement  of  health,  always  restored  by  relaxation  from  official  duties,  and 
physical  labor  on  the  farm,  where  he  was  wont  to  take  similar  exercise  in 
boyhood.  He  is  now  in  the  full  vigor  and  strength  of  his  powers,  and  may 
reasonably  look  forward  to  many  years  more  of  active  usefulness  to  the  state 
and  nation. 


GOV.  NATT  HEAD. 


Natt  Head  is  of  Welsh  and  Scotch  ancestry.  John  and  Nathaniel  Head, 
brothers,  emigrated  from  Wales  and  settled  in  Bradford,  Mass.  Subsequently 
they  removed  to  Pembroke.  Although  of  Welsh  birth,  they  were  thoroughly 
English  in  their  views  and  general  characteristics,  as  tradition  and  other  testi- 
mony amply  prove.  Nathaniel,  the  great-grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  became  an  influential  and  patriotic  citizen  of  his  adopted  town.  Early  in 
the  period  of  trouble  with  the  mother  country  he  was  selected  by  the  members 
of  the  committee  of  safety  in  Pembroke  to  go  through  that  town  and  hunt  up 
and  make  a  list  of  the  Tories.  Hostilities  having  been  inaugurated,  he  enlisted 
in  the  military  service,  and  served  with  fidelity  and  bravery  throughout  the  war. 
iVfter  the  return  of  peace  he  became  actively  identified  with  the  state  militia, 
and  rose  to  the  command  of  the  third  brigade.  He  represented  the  town  of 
Pembroke  in  the  legislature. 

Gren.  Head  had  three  sons,  of  whom  Nathaniel,  born  in  Bradford,  Mass., 
March  6,  1754,  was  the  grandfather  of  Gov.  Natt  Head.  When  a  young  man 
the  son  paid  his  addresses  to  Miss  Anna  Knox,  daughter  of  Timothy  Knox,  of 
Pembroke.  She  was  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  and  one  day,  as  the  father  and  son 
were  plowing,  the  former  remarked,  "  Nathaniel,  do  you  intend  to  marry  that 
Irish  girl?  "  The  son  respectfully  but  emphatically  answered  in  the  affirmative; 
whereupon  the  father  added,  "  Then,  understand,  you  can  never  share  in  my 
property."  Young  Nathaniel's  answer  was:  "  Very  well ;  I  will  take  care  of 
myself."  And,  in  accordance  with  his  declaration,  he  dropped  the  goad-stick, 
and  in  a  few  hours  left  the  paternal  roof  to  take  up  a  farm  in  the  wilderness  and 
build  a  home.  The  father  made  good  his  threat,  and  at  his  death  Nathaniel 
received  one  dollar  and  his  brothers  the  remainder  of  the  property.  Nathaniel 
located  in  that  portion  of  Chester  now  Hooksett,  and,  building  a  log  house,  car- 
ried to  it  Anna  Knox,  his  wife.  The  site  of  the  primitive  cabin  was  the  iden- 
tical spot  where  Grov.  Head's  beautiful  residence  now  stands.  As  would  be 
expected,  the  young  man,  who  with  no  fortune  but  strong  arms  and  a  stout 
heart  had  the  bravery  and  determination  to  establish  his  forest  home,  soon  rose 
to  position  and  influence.  The  report  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  made  him  a 
soldier  at  once,  and  the  record  shows  him  to  have  been  a  second  lieutenant  in  the 
ninth  company  of  volunteers  from  New  Hampshire  at  Winter  Hill,  in  the  cold 
season  of  1775-76  ;  ensign  in  Capt.  Sias's  company.  Col.  Nichols's  regiment,  in 
the  expedition  to  Rhode  Island  in  1778 ;  and  captain  in  Col.  Reynold's  regi- 
ment in  1781.  Returning  to  his  home,  he  added  to  the  pursuit  of  agriculture 
the  establishment  and  operation  of  a  lumber-mill.  He  was  early  commissioned 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  held  frequent  courts,  at  the  same  time  performing  a 
large  amount  of  probate  business,  including  the  settling  of  many  estates,  while 
his  acknowledged  sense  of  justice  and  marked  integrity  often  caused  him  to  be 
chosen  arbiter  in  important  questions  of  dispute  in  the  neighborhood.  With 
the  close  of  the  war,  his  martial   ardor  was  not  extinguished,  and  he  became 


224  GOV.    NATT    HEAD. 

prominently  connected  with  the  state  troops,  —  the  old  roster  showing  him  to 
have  been  a  brigade  inspector,  and  also  colonel  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment. 

Col.  Nathaniel  Head,  Jr.,  had  nine  children,  the  seventh,  John,  born  May 
30,  1791.  being  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  remained  at  the 
old  homestead,  and  after  arriving  at  manhood  was  associated  with  his  father  in 
the  work  of  the  farm  and  the  mill,  and  after  his  death  succeeded  to  the  estate  by 
purchasing  the  interests  of  the  other  heirs.  The  military  spirit  again  appears 
in  John  Head,  who  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Seventeenth 
Regiment. 

Col.  Head  married  Miss  Anna  Brown,  whose  home  was  near  his.  Before 
her  union  with  him  she  was  a  school-teacher,  and  a  woman  of  great  energy  and 
executive  ability.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Pembroke  Congregational  church, 
and  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  religious  and  educational  affairs  of  her  neighbor- 
hood. She  was  a  grand-daughter  of  William  Brown,  one  of  the  three  brothers 
who  came  from  Scotland  and  settled  in  the  upper  part  of  Chester,  near  what  is 
now  Suncook.  Her  father,  William  Brown,  was  a  sea  captain,  who  made  numer- 
ous voyages  around  the  world.  Captain  Brown's  sister  married  Ezekiel  Straw. 
grandfather  of  Gov.  P]zekiel  A.  Straw,  of  ^lanchester,  making  the  latter  a  second 
cousin  of  Gov.  Head.  The  three  Brown  brothers  already  mentioned  were  men 
of  ability,  and  had  high  family  connections  across  the  Atlantic.  Their  English 
coat  of  arms  was  the  "  hawk  and  the  bird"  the  design  showing  the  former  diving 
towards,  and  in  the  act  of  catching,  the  latter.  On  the  maternal  side.  Gov. 
Head's  great-aunt,  Betsey  Brown,  daughter  of  Rev.  Joseph  Brown,  M.  D.,  of 
the  Church  of  England,  married  the  distinguished  Hon.  Samuel  Livermore,  of 
Holderness,  who  was  chief-justice  of  the  superior  court  of  judicature. 

Mrs.  John  Head  had  four  brothers,  one  of  whom,  Hon.  Hiram  Brown,  was 
the  first  mayor  of  Manchester,  and  now  resides  at  Falls  Church,  Ya.  By  the 
death  of  Col.  Head,  August  7,  1835,  the  widow  was  left  in  the  management  of 
a  large  and  valuable  property,  to  which  was  added  the  care  of  her  family.  All 
those  responsible  duties  she  discharged  with  great  fidelity  and  conscientiousness 
until  her  death,  which  occurred  April  3,  1840.  She  left  five  children,  of  whom 
four  are  now  living.  They  are  Mrs.  Hannah  A.,  widow  of  the  late  Col.  Josiah 
Stevens,  Jr.,  of  Manchester;  Natt,  born  May  20,  1828,  John  A.,  of  Boone 
county.  To.,  and  William  F.,  —  the  latter  the  business  partner  of  Gov.  Head. 

The  picturesquely  located  home  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  is  owned  by 
Natt  and  William  F.  Head.  It  extends  from  the  house  to  the  Merrimack  river, 
and  follows  the  same  for  the  distance  of  half  a  mile,  embracing  many  acres  of 
the  fertile  intervale  lands  of  that  stream.  The  farm  is  particularly  adapted  to 
grass,  and  yields  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  hay  annually.  There  are 
kept  on  it  one  hundred  head  of  neat  stock  and  thirty  horses.  In  addition  to  the 
homestead,  the  brothers  own  large  tracts  of  outlying  wood  and  pasture  lands. 
The  lumber  operations  which  were  begun  by  Col.  Natlaaniel  Head  have  assumed 
large  proportions  in  the  hands  of  his  descendants.  Under  the  firm  name  of 
Head  &  Dowst,  in  IManchester,  the  brothers  do  a  heavy  lumber  and  building 
business.  On  the  home  farm  are  the  famous  Head  clay  banks,  where  some  eight 
million  or  more  of  brick  are  produced  each  year.  The  firm  employs,  in 
Hooksett,  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  men. 

Gov.  Head  had  the  advantages  of  the  common  school  and  of  the  Pembroke 
Academy.  His  room-mate  at  the  latter  was  Mark  Bailey,  now  a  professor  at 
Yale  College,  and  between  whom  a  close  friendship  has  since  existed.  Being 
only  seven  years  of  age  when  his  father  died,  he  soon  learned  to  assist  his  mother 
in  managing  the  work  of  the  farm  and  the  mill ;  and  to  such  an  experience, 
joined   with   her  kindly    influence,   may  be   attributed    the  formation  of   those 


GOV.    NATT    HEAD.  225 

principles  of  cliaracter  which  led  to  the  eminent  success  that  he  achieved  in  later 
years  in  business  and  in  political  life.  After  the  death  of  his  mother,  he  settled 
the  estate,  and  with  his  brother  William  bought  out  the  other  heirs  and  formed 
a  joint  partnership,  under  the  firm  name  of  Natt  &  W.  F.  Head,  that  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time,  —  there  never  having  been  any  division  of  their 
income,  or  of  the  large  amount  of  property  that  they  own.  On  the  score  of 
integrity  and  promptness  in  meeting  every  business  obligation,  it  will  not  be 
invidious  to  cay  that  no  firm  in  the  state  has  a  higher  standing. 

From  boyhood  allied  to  agriculture,  Gov.  Head's  interest  in  it  has  never 
diminished,  notwithstanding  the  many  military  and  civil  honors  that  came  to  him 
in  later  life.  For  five  years  he  was  a  director,  and  for  eleven  years  the  president, 
of  the  New  Hampshire  State  Agricultural  Society,  an  ofl&cer  of  the  Merrimack 
County  Association,  a  trustee  of  the  New  England  society  since  its  organization, 
and  an  ex-trustee  of  the  New  Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  the 
Mechanic  Arts  at  Hanover.  For  many  years  he  has  been  a  popular  speaker  at 
agricultural  fairs  and  farmers'  meetings.  While  president  of  the  state  society 
he  inaugurated  the  first  farmers'  convention  ever  held  in  New  England,  and 
which  called  out  many  of  the  ablest  agricultural  speakers  in  the  country. 

Inheriting  military  taste  and  enthusiasm  from  three  generations,  we  find  him 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  patriotic  and  distinguished  ancestors.  He  was  one 
of  the  active  spirits  in  the  formation,  and  was  one  of  the  first  members,  of 
the  famous  Hooksett  Light  Infantry,  which  was  a  crack  company  in  the  old  state 
forces.  September  1,  1847,  he  was  commissioned  drum-major  of  the  Eleventh 
Regiment,  third  brigade,  first  division,  of  the  state  militia,  and  served  four  years. 
He  was  an  original  member  of  the  famous  Grovernor's  Horse-Guards,  and  drum- 
major  and  chief  bugler  during  the  existence  of  the  corps.  He  was  a  charter 
member  and  four  years  commander  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans,  of  Manchester  ; 
is  an  honorary'  member  of  the  Boston  Lancers,  and  is  a  member,  an  ex-sergeant, 
of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery,  of  Boston.  He  was  chief  on  the  staff  of 
Gov.  Joseph  A.  Gilmore,  and  is  an  honorary  member  of  several  other  military  or- 
ganizations. The  Head  Guards,  of  Manchester,  one  of  the  oldest  companies  under 
the  present  militia  system,  was  named  in  his  honor. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  when  the  Soldiers'  Asylum  near 
Augusta,  Me.,  was  burned.  Gov.  Head  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  that  in- 
stitution during  the  illness  of  the  deputy-governor,  and  subsequently  rebuilt  the 
establishment.  He  had  previously,  as  a  contractor,  built  several  miles  of  the 
Concord  cS:  Portsmouth  Railroad  between  Suncook  and  Candia,  and  also  the 
road-bed  and  bridges  from  Suncook  to  Hooksett,  and  the  branch  line  from 
Suncook  to  Pittsfield. 

In  early  life  he  was  elected  to  various  town  offices ;  was  commissioned  a 
deputy-sheriff,  and  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  from  Hooksett  in  1861 
and  1862. 

The  appointment  which  brought  him  most  conspicuously  before  the  public 
was  that  of  adjutant,  inspector,  and  quartermaster  general  of  the  state,  which  he 
received  from  Gov.  Gilmore,  March  26,  1864.  He  was  called  to  that  office  at  a 
period  when  the  republic  was  in  one  of  the  most  serious  crises  of  the  great  civil  war, 
and  when  the  loyal  people  of  New  Hampshire  were  putting  forth  every  effort  to 
enlist  the  men  called  for  under  the  President's  proclamation  of  the  preceding 
month.  On  entering  the  office  he  found  every  department  lamentably  incom- 
plete, but  little  matter  having  been  collated  in  relation  to  the  equipping  of  the 
troops  or  tlieir  achievements  in  the  field,  although  the  state  had,  up  to  that  time, 
furnished  twenty-six  thousand  soldiers.  In  truth,  not  a  full  set  of  muster-in 
rolls  of  any  regiment  was  found  in  the  office.     Notwithstanding  these  obstacles, 


226  GOV.    NATT    HEAD. 

and  witli  no  appropriation  to  draw  upon,  Gen.  Head  promptly  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  position,  procuring  the  necessary  outfit  for  the  office,  and  upon  his 
own  responsibility  employing  clerks.  He  did  this  trusting  in  the  legislature  for 
re-imbursement.  which  it  not  only  cheerfully  made,  but  made  all  additional  appro- 
priations that  were  called  for.  The  faithful  manner  in  which  all  the  clerical 
work  was  performed,  the  method  and  persistency  shown  in  hunting  up  and  plac- 
ing on  file  the  records  of  our  soldiers,  and  the  system  exhibited  in  preserving 
and  filing  the  valuable  and  extensive  correspondence,  —  were  all  worthy  of  the 
greatest  praise.  The  reports  issued  during  Gen.  Head's  administration  not  only 
give  the  name  and  history  of  every  officer  and  soldier  who  went  into  the  service 
from  our  state,  but  they  embrace  biographical  sketches  of  all  the  field  officers  who 
fell  in  battle  or  who  died  of  disease  during  the  war,  together  with  a  brief  history 
of  all  the  organizations,  giving  their  principal  movements  from  their  departure 
to  their  return  home.  These  books  also  include  the  military  history  of  New 
Hampshire  from  1623  to  1861,  the  data  for  which  were  gathered  with  great  per- 
severance and  under  many  discouragements  from  various  sources  in  this  and 
other  states  and  from  the  rolls  in  the  war  department  at  Washington,  thus  mak- 
ing the  united  reports  a  work  of  inestimable  value  to  the  present  and  coming 
generations,  and,  at  the  same  time,  constituting  an  invaluable  contribution  to  the 
martial  history  of  the  nation.  He  was  the  first  adjutant-general  in  our  country 
who  conceived  the  idea  of  having  handsomely  engraved  on  steel,  with  attractive 
and  appropriate  symbols  and  of  a  size  adapted  to  framing,  a  memorial  certificate 
to  be  presented  to  all  surviving  officers  and  soldiers  from  our  state,  and  to  the 
widows  or  nearest  relatives  of  those  who  gave  their  lives  in  the  great  struggle 
for  the  preservation  of  the  republic.  This  testimonial  was  filled  up  with  the 
name  and  rank,  and  also  the  regiment  and  company  with  which  the  men  were 
connected,  and  the  nature  and  length  of  their  services.  It  will  not  be  invidious 
to  say  that  no  other  state  had  during  the  war  an  abler  or  more  efficient  and  pa- 
triotic adjutant-general  than  New  Hampshire,  or  one  who  was  more  devoted  to 
the  men  on  their  way  to  the  field,  while  there,  or  on  their  return  after  peace  was 
declared.  Many  a  veteran  will  remember  with  gratitude  his  ftitherly  care  of  them 
after  their  discharge,  and  his  good  counsel  and  assistance  in  saving  them  from  the 
hands  of  sharpers  who  were  always  in  waiting  to  take  advantage  of  the  necessi- 
ties of  soldiers.  From  his  own  private  means  Gen.  Head  extended  aid  to  all  sol- 
diers needing  it;  and  to  the  credit  of  New  Hampshire  "boys  in  blue"  it  should 
be  recorded  that  he  never  lost  a  dollar  by  such  confidence  and  generosity.  It 
seems  almost  unnecessary  to  add  that  his  constant  and  unwearied  devotion  to 
them  secured  for  him  not  only  their  highest  respect  and  warmest  esteem,  but  won 
for  him  the  enduring  title  of  "  the  soldier's  friend." 

In  1875  the  celebrated  controversy  occurred  in  the  old  second  senatorial  dis- 
trict over  the  spelling  of  his  name  on  the  ballots,  upon  which  technicality  his 
votes,  he  having  a  plurality,  were  thrown  out.  His  constituents,  however,  were 
determined  that  justice  should  be  done  him,  and  they  gave  him  a  handsome  elec- 
tion the  succeeding  year,  and  re-elected  him  in  1877,  when  he  was  made  president 
of  the  senate,  discharging  its  responsible  duties  with  rare  efficiency  and 
acceptability. 

For  some  years  Gen.  Head  had  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Re- 
publican nomination  for  governor,  receiving  votes  in  successive  conventions.  In 
that  which  nominated  Gov.  Benjamin  F.  Prescott,  in  1877,  Gen.  Head's  vote 
was  a  flattering  one,  and  ranked  second  only  to  that  of  the  successful  nominee. 
At  the  convention  in  September,  1878,  which  was  the  first  to  select  candidates 
for  a  biennial  term.  Gen.  Head  was  nominated  upon  the  first  ballot  by  a  decided 
majority.     By  reason  of  the  third-party  or  "Greenback"  movement,  it  was  not 


GOV.    NATT   HEAD.  227 

expected  by  his  most  sanguine  supporters  that  he  would  be  elected  on  the  popular 
vote,  yet  the  result  was  that  he  was  chosen  over  all  by  a  majority  of  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight.  His  election  to  the  executive  chair  being  for  two  years, 
he  was,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  party  regarding  the  tenure  of  this  office, 
not  a  candidate  for  renomination.  In  the  brief  review  which  the  limits  of  this 
sketch  allow  of  his  gubernatorial  administration,  we  find  that  it  was  throughout 
eminently  successful ;  creditable  alike  to  his  own  ability  and  fidelity,  and  to  the 
fair  fame  of  our  state  which  he  so  honorably  served. 

During  his  term  of  office  there  arose  many  important  measures  and  questions 
whose  consideration  demanded  practical  good  sense,  wisdom,  and  impartial  judg- 
ment. The  well  known  Buzzell  murder  case,  which  finally  became  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  in  the  criminal  records  of  the  world,  had  been  twice  tried  when 
Gov.  Head  entered  the  executive  chair.  Buzzell  was  then  awaiting  execution, 
and  thousands  had  petitioned  for  a  commutation  of  his  sentence.  His  Excel- 
lency and  his  official  advisers  gave  a  long  and  patient  hearing  to  counsel  for  the 
state  and  for  the  defense,  and  to  all  others  who  desired  to  be  heard,  and  then, 
after  mature  deliberation,  refused  the  prayer  on  the  ground  that  no  new  evidence 
had  been  presented  that  would  warrant  the  changing  of  the  decision  of  the  court. 
Buzzell  suff"ered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law,  and  the  conclusion  in  his  case 
was  sustained  by  legal  and  public  opinion.  The  project  of  a  new  state-prison 
which  had  been  successfully  inaugurated  under  his  predecessor,  was  carried  for- 
ward to  its  completion.  The  commissioners  selected  to  superintend  the  work 
consulted  with  the  governor  at  every  step,  and  without  even  a  whisper  of  extrav- 
agance or  jobbery  the  building  was  finished,  dedicated,  and  opened  for  use,  and 
stands  to-day,  in  thoroughness  of  structvire  and  excellence  of  arrangement,  sec- 
ond to  no  other  penitentiary  in  the  country.  There  came  before  Gov.  Head 
many  judicial  and  other  appointments,  all  of  which  were  made  with  the  single 
aim  of  serving  the  highest  interest  of  the  state.  During  his  term  he  made  many 
official  trips,  and  wherever  he  traveled  he  received  those  assiduous  attentions 
which  he  personally  and  as  chief  executive  of  the  state  merited.  He  attended 
the  inauguration  of  President  Garfield,  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary 
exercises  at  Boston,  the  Newtown,  N.  Y.,  centennial  celebration,  and  military  en- 
campments in  various  states.  It  was  also  his  pleasure  to  receive  Governors  Talbot 
and  Long,  of  Massachusetts,  Governor  Van  Zandt,  of  Rhode  Island,  and  many 
other  distinguished  dignitaries.  His  administration  took  its  rank  in  history  as 
one  of  the  purest,  wisest,  and  best  that  New  Hampshire  has  ever  had. 

In  the  financial  world.  Gov.  Head  has  been  chosen  to  many  responsible  posi- 
tions. He  is  a  director  of  the  Suncook  Valley  Railroad,  in  which  enterprise  he 
was  one  of  the  most  active  workers ;  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Manchester,  and  of  the  New  Hampshire  Fire  Insurance  Company ;  president  of 
the  China  Savings  Bank  at  Suncook,  and  a  trustee  of  the  Merrimack  River 
Savings  Bank,  of  Manchester. 

In  Masonic  and  kindred  organizations  he  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and 
influential  members  in  New  Hampshire,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  country.  He  is  on 
the  rolls  of  Jewell  Lodge,  of  Suncook,  of  which  he  is  a  charter  member,  and  is 
a  member  of  Mount  Horeb  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  Adoniram  Council,  and  Trinity 
Commandry,  of  Manchester.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Council,  having 
taken  all  the  degrees  of  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite,  including  the 
thirty-third,  and  all  in  the  Rite  of  Memphis  to  the  ninety-fourth ;  is  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Boston  Consistory,  the  largest  Masonic  body  in  the  world,  and 
ex-Illustrious-Grand-Chancellor  of  the  Sublime  Consistory  of  New  Hampshire. 
He  was  a  charter  member  of  Howard  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  also  belongs 
to  the  Hildreth  Encampment,  both  of  Suncook,  and  is  now  a  charter  member  of 


228  GOV.    NATT    HEAD. 

Friendship  Lodge,  of  Hooksett,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Oriental  Lodge  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  of  Suncook.  He  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  member  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  and  is  now  its  vice-president. 

Although  his  own  opportunity  for  mental  improvement  was  somewhat  limited, 
yet  he  has  always  been  a  stanch  advocate  of  our  public-school  and  higher  edu- 
cational systems.  He  is  not  a  member  of  any  church,  but  from  youth  he  has 
been  a  regular  attendant  upon  religious  services,  and  has  always  given  freely  of 
his  time,  and  contributed  generously  from  his  means,  to  the  building  up  and 
advancement  of  Christian  work. 

(tov.  Head  Avas  married,  November  18,  1863,  to  Miss  Abbie  M.  Sanford,  of 
Lowell,  Mass.  They  have  had  three  children,  of  whom  Lewis  Fisher  and  Alice 
Perley  are  dead,  while  Annie  Sanford,  who  is  now  at  school  in  Bradford,  Mass., 
is  nearly  fifteen. 

The  old  log  cabin  to  which  reference  has  been  made  gave  way  a  long  time 
since  to  a  framed  .structure,  which,  in  turn,  a  few  years  ago  was  supplanted  by  an 
elegant  brick  mansion  with  French  roof  and  attractive  architecture,  and  whose 
interior  has  all  modern  appointments,  with  rich  furniture  and  works  of  art.  The 
house  is  surmounted  with  a  tower,  from  which  is  obtained  a  delightful  view  of 
the  Merrimack  valley,  and  of  distant  mountains.  It  was  built  under  (iov.  Head's 
personal  supervision,  and  in  making  so  great  an  outlay  he  had  in  view  the  hope 
that  after  the  period  of  business  activity  he  might  be  permitted  to  spend  there 
in  happiness  the  closing  years  of  his  life. 

G^ov.  Head  is  of  commanding  pei'sonal  appearance,  while  in  his  bearing  he  is 
exceedingly  courteous  and  agreeable.  In  him  English  and  Scotch  blood  have 
united  to  form  a  character  distinguished  by  strong  and  sound  practical  sense, 
diligence,  determination,  perseverance,  and,  above  all,  a  high  standard  of  honor 
and  unswerving  integrity.  In  the  proud  record  of  the  eminent  public  men  of 
our  state,  the  name  of  Grov.  Head  has  high  and  creditable  rank. 


HON.  DANIEL  HALL. 


BY    REV.    ALONZO    HALL    QUINT,   D.  D. 


Of  those  towns  in  the  state  whose  scenery  is  soniewhat  quiet,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  is  Harrington.  A  small  tract  on  its  western  border  is  level  and 
not  fertile,  but  most  of  its  surface  is  gently  rolling,  two  decided  heights,  however, 
affording  beautiful  views.  The  map  shows  it  to  be  traversed  by  streams  in  every 
part,  one  important  river  being  the  outflow  of  Bow  lake ;  and  the  map  shows  no 
less  than  fourteen  ponds,  some  of  them  nearly  two  miles  in  length,  and  whose 
shores,  often  abrupt,  are  full  of  beauty.  Magnificent  pine  forests  of  the  first 
growth  have  been  carefully  preserved  to  the  present  generation,  and  fertile  farms 

are  numerous.  •  i     i-  i 

Daniel  Hall  was  born  in  this  town,  February  28,  1832,  and,  with  slight 
exceptions,  was  the  descendant  of  generations  of  farmers.  His  first  known 
American  ancestor  was  John  Hall,  who  appears  to  have  come  to  Dover,  N.  H., 
in  the  year  1G49,  with  his  brother  Ralph,  from  Charlestown,  Mass.  Of  this 
blood  was  the  mother  of  Gov.  John  Langdon,  Tobias  Lear  (Washington's 
private  secretary),  and  others  of  like  energy.  The  emigrant,  John  Hall,  was 
the  first  recorded  deacon  of  the  Dover  First  church,  was  town  clerk,  commis- 
sioner to  try  small  cases,  and  a  farmer,  but  mainly  surveyor  of  lands.  His 
spring  of  beautiful  water  is  still  "Hall's  spring,"  on  Dover  Neck.  His  son 
Ralph  was  of  Dover,  a  farmer ;  whose  son  Ralph,  also  a  farmer,  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Barrington  ;  whose  son  Solomon,  also  a  farmer,  was  of  the  same 
town  ;  whose  son  Daniel,  also  a  farmer,  was  father  of  Gilman  Hall  (his  ninth 
child),  who,  by  his  wife  Eliza  Tuttle,  was  father  of  nine  children,  Daniel  being 
the  first  born.  The  picturesque  old  house  in  which  he  was  born,  built  by  one 
Hunking,  is  still  standing  near  Winkley's  pond,  an  interesting  and  venerable 
landmark,  but  unoccupied  and  in  a  ruinous  condition.  Gilman  Hall  was  early  a 
trader  in  Dover,  but  for  twenty-five  subsequent  years  was  farmer  and  trader  in 
Barrington,  his  native  town,  on  the  stage  road  known  as  the  "  Waldron's  Hill " 
road.  "He  was  representati\e,  and  for  many  years  selectman.  Daniel's  mother 
was  a  descendant  of  John  Tuttle,  who  was  judge  of  the  superior  court  for  many 
years  prior  to  the  year  1700,  residing  in  Dover. 

Daniel  Hall's  life  as  a  boy  was  on  the  farm.  He  went  to  the  district  school 
a  long  distance,  through  snows  and  heats,  and  by  and  by  helped  in  the  store. 
When  older,  from  fourteen  years  onward,  he  drove  a  team  to  Dover,  with  wood 
and  lumber,  and  sold  his  loads,  standing  on  Central  square.  But  he  had  a  pas- 
sion for  books,  and  a  burning  desire  for  an  education.  He  learned  all  he  could 
get  in  the  district  school,  and  when  about  sixteen  years  of  age  he  secured  two 
terms,  about  six  months  in  all,  in  Strafford  Academy,  —  one  term  under  Ira  F. 
Folsom  (D.  C.  1848),  and  one  under  Rev.  Porter  S.  Burbank.  In  1849  he  was 
one  term  at  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary,  in  Northfield,  Rev.  Richard 
S.  Rust,  principal.     Then,  for  satisfactory  reasons,  he  gave  up   all   academies. 


.230  HON.    DANIEL    HALL. 

returned  home,  set  liimself  down  alone  to  his  Greek,  Latin,  and  mathe- 
matics, and  with  indomitable  perseverance  prepared  for  college.  He  entered 
Dartmouth  in  185U,  probably  the  poorest  fitted  in  his  class;  but  he  had  the 
fitting  of  a  determined  will,  unconquerable  industry,  a  keen  intellect,  and  the 
fiber  of  six  generations  of  open-air  ancestors,  and  in  1854  he  graduated  at  the 
very  head  of  his  class,  and  was  valedictorian.  It  is  needless  to  say,  perhaps,  that 
the  eldest  of  nine  children  had  to  practice  economy,  and  teach  district  schools 
five  winters  in  his  native  town ;  and  that  what  small  advances  he  had  from  his 
father  were  repaid,  to  the  last  dollar,  from  his  first  earnings. 

In  the  fall  of  1854  he  was  appointed  a  clerk  in  the  New  York  custom- 
house, and  held  the  place  for  some  years.  He  had  taken  an  early  interest  in 
politics,  being  by  education  a  Democrat.  But  he  had  always  been  jjositively 
anti-slavery  in  sentiment.  He  was  dissatisfied  with  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill ; 
and  alone  of  all  the  clerks  in  the  custom-house,  and  fearless  of  the  probable 
result  to  himself,  he  openly  denounced  the  Lecompton-constitution  })olicy  of 
Buchanan,  and  supported  Douglas.  In  consequence  he  was  removed  from  oflice 
in  March,  1858. 

lleturning  to  Dover,  he  continued  the  study  of  law  —  which  he  had  com- 
menced in  New  York — ^in  the  office  of  the  eminent  lawyer,  Daniel  M.  Christie, 
and  on  that  gentleman's  motion  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  May  term,  18(J(). 
He  afterwards  well  repaid  Mr.  Christie's  kindness  by  a  eulogy,  upon  his  decease, 
delivered  before  the  court,  and  subsequently  printed.  It  was  regarded  as  an 
eloquent  and  appreciative  tribute  to  Mr.  Christie's  remarkable  (jualities  of  man- 
hood, and  extraordinary  powers  as  a  lawyer. 

Mr.  Hall,  upon  his  admission  to  the  bar,  opened  an  office  in  Dover,  and  com- 
menced practice.  In  the  spring  of  1859,  just  before  the  state  election,  in  view 
of  the  great  crisis  coming  upon  the  country,  at  an  immense  meeting  in  Dover, 
he  (as  did  also  Judge  Charles  Doe)  withdrew  from  the  Democratic  party  and 
cast  in  his  allegiance  with  the  Republicans.  With  them,  where  his  conscience 
and  political  principles  alike  placed  him,  has  his  lot  been  cast  ever  since  ;  and  it 
is  not  improbable  that  that  one  addition,  in  later  and  critical  years,  turned  the 
scale  in  New  Hampshire's  political  destinies. 

It  was  an  episode  in  his  life  that  in  1859  he  was  appointed,  by  the  governor 
and  council,  school  commissioner  for  Straff'ord  county,  and  re-appointed  in  18G0. 
His  early  training  in  the  country  district  school,  his  work  as  master  in  the 
winters,  and  his  hard-earned  higher  education  qualified  him  eminently  for  the 
practical  duties  of  this  office. 

In  the  autumn  of  1861,  Mr.  Hall  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  United 
States  senate  committee  to  investigate  the  surrender  of  the  Norfolk  navy-yard. 
This  committee  consisted  of  John  P.  Hale,  Andrew  Johnson,  and  James  W. 
Grrimes.  Soon  after,  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  senate  committee  on  Naval 
Aff"airs,  at  Washington,  of  which  Mr.  Hale  was  chairman.  He  served  in  this 
capacity  until  March,  18G2  ;  but  he  wished  for  more  immediate  participation  in 
the  great  struggle  then  in  progress.  The  conflict,  which  had  its  symptoms  in  the 
Lecompton  strife,  had  become  war,  and  the  young  man  who  had  then  sacrificed 
office  for  principle  was  ready  for  a  still  greater  sacrifice.  In  March,  1862,  he 
was  commissioned  aid-de-camp  and  captain  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  assigned  to  duty  with  Gen.  John  C.  Fremont ;  but  before  he 
had  time  to  join  that  officer,  Gen.  Fremont  had  retired  from  command,  and 
Capt.  Hall  was  transferred  to  the  staff"  of  Gen.  A.  W.  Whipple,  then  in  command 
at  Arlington  Heights,  of  the  troops  and  works  in  front  of  Washington,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Potomac.  In  September,  1862,  a  few  days  after  the  battle 
of  Antietam,  Gen.  Whipple  joined  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  and  eventually 


HON.    DANIEL    HALL.  231 

marched  with  it  to  the  front  of  Fredericksburg.  On  tlie  13th  of  December, 
18G2,  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  crossing  the  river  with  the  third 
corps,  and  taking  part  in  the  sanguinary  assault  upon  the  works  which  covered 
Marye's  Heights. 

At  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  he  was  in  the  column  sent  out  to  cut 
Jackson's  line  as  he  moved  in  front  of  the  army,  and  in  the  gallant  action  of  the 
third  division  of  the  third  corps,  under  Gen.  Whipple,  of  whose  staiF  he  was 
a  member,  and  was  with  that  lamented  officer  when  he  fell  mortally  wounded. 
Capt.  Hall  was  then  assigned  to  the  staif  of  Gren.  Oliver  0.  Howard,  commander 
of  the  eleventh  corps,  and  with  him  went  to  Gettysburg.  His  position  in  that 
action  was  important.  When  Gen.  Reynolds,  commanding  the  tirst  corps,  had 
advanced  through  the  town  and  encountered  the  enemy.  Gen.  Howard,  then 
moving  up  and  about  five  miles  to  the  rear,  hearing  the  heavy  firing,  ordered 
Capt.  Hall  to  ride  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible,  find  Gen.  Reynolds,  ascertain 
the  condition  of  affiiirs,  and  obtain  his  orders.  Capt.  Hall's  fleet  horse  soon  cov- 
ered the  distance,  and  he  found  Gen.  Reynolds  himself  in  an  advanced  and 
exposed  position  from  the  enemy's  fire.  He  did  his  errand;  Gen.  Reynolds  said 
he  had  met  the  enemy  in  force,  and  sent  the  order  to  Gen.  Howard  to  bring  up 
his  corps  with  all  possible  dispatch.  Scarcely  had  Capt.  Hall  got  back  through 
the  town,  when  he  was  overtaken  by  the  intelligence  that  Gen.  Reynolds  was 
mortally  wounded,  and  near  the  cemetery  he  met  Gen.  Howard  impatiently  com- 
ing up  in  advance  of  his  corps.  Passing  Cemetery  Ridge,  Gen.  Howard  said, 
"  That  is  the  place  to  fight  this  battle,"  and  directed  Capt.  Hall  to  take  a  battery 
from  the  leading  division,  and  place  it  in  position  on  the  crest  of  the  hill.  This 
was  done,  and  that  battery,  the  first  planted  on  Cemetery  Hill,  remained  on  that 
spot  through  the  three  days  of  the  conflict.  W^hen  Gen.  Howard  took  his  own 
place  there,  Capt.  Hall  was  of  course  with  him.  and  on  the  second  day  of  the 
engagement  was  slightly  wounded  by  a  shell.  These  details  are  given,  simply  to 
place  on  record,  in  this  permanent  form,  his  testimony  to  the  justice  of  the  claim 
made  by  the  friends  of  Gen.  Howard,  that  he  was  fully  entitled  to  the  thanks 
voted  him  by  congress  for  selecting  Cemetery  Hill  and  holding  it  as  the  battle- 
ground of  the  great  and  glorious  battle  of  Gettysburg. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1863  his  health  suffered,  and  he  was  forced  to  leave  the 
service  in  December,  1863.  But  in  June,  1864,  he  was  appointed  provost-mar- 
shal of  the  first  New  Hampshire  district,  being  stationed  at  Portsmouth,  and  here 
he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  The  aff'airs  of  the  office  were  in  some 
confusion,  but  his  methodical  habits  soon  reduced  it  to  order.  During  his  term 
of  service,  he  enlisted  or  drafted,  and  forwarded,  over  four  thousand  men  to  the 
army.  This  service  ceased  in  October,  1865.  "  He  was  one  of  the  men,"  said  a 
substitute  broker  to  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  "  that  no  man  dared  approach  with 
a  crooked  proposition,  no  matter  how  much  was  in  it.'" 

Mr.  Hall  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  Dover,  but  in  1866  was  appointed 
clerk  of  the  supreme  court  for  Strafford  county,  and  in  1868,  judge  of  the  police 
court  of  the  city  of  Dover.  The  duties  of  these  offices  were  performed  with  his 
usual  sense  of  justice,  but  in  1874,  the  Democratic  party,  being  in  power,  "  ad- 
dressed" him  out  of  both  offices.  In  the  mean  time  he  had  been  judge-advocate, 
with  the  rank  of  major,  in  the  military  of  New  Hampshire,  under  Gov.  Smyth, 
and  held  a  position  on  the  staff'  of  Gov.  Harriman,  which  gave  him  his  usual 
title  of  Colonel. 

Col.  Hall  had  long  taken  a  deep  interest  in  political  affairs.  To  him  they 
represented  principles.  In  1873  he  was  president  of  the  Republican  state  con- 
vention at  Concord.  He  had  been  for  some  years  a  member  of  the  Republican 
state  committee,  when,  in  December,  1873,  his  abilities  as  a  leader  and  executive 


232  HON.    DANIEL    HALL. 

were  recoo-nized  in  his  selection  a8  chairman  of  that  committee.  He  so  remained 
until  1877,  and  conducted  the  campaigns,  state  and  national,  of  1874,  1875,  and 
1876.  These  were  critical  years  for  the  Republican  i)arty.  The  nearly  even 
balance  of  parties  in  New  Hampshire,  the  vigor  and  intensity  with  which  the 
battles  are  always  fought,  and  the  skill  necessary  in  every  department,  demand 
abilities  and  energies  of  the  highest  order.  The  years  mentioned  surpassed  ordi- 
nary years  in  political  danger  to  the  Republicans.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
Col.  Hall  conducted  the  last  three  campaigns  to  a  triumphant  issue.  So  decisive 
were  the  successive  victories  that  the  tide  was  turned,  and  from  that  time  the 
state  has  not  swerved  from  Republican  allegiance. 

Tn  187(j,  Col.  Hall  was  chairman  of  the  New  Hamj)shire  delegation  to  the 
Republican  national  convention  at  Cincinnati,  being  chosen  at  large,  unpledged, 
and  with  scarce  a  dissenting  vote.  Seven  delegates  voted  from  first  to  last  for 
James  G.  Blaine;  but  Col.  Hall,  with  ex-(iov.  Straw  and  Hon.  Charles  H.  Burns, 
voted  six  times  for  Mr.  Bristow,  and  on  the  decisive  ballot  for  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes. 

In  187(i  and  1877,  Mr.  Hall  was,  by  appointment  of  Gov.  Cheney,  reporter 
of  the  decisions  of  the  sufireme  court  of  New  Hampshire,  and  in  that  honorable 
position  published  vols.  5(1  and  57,  New  Hampshire  Reports. 

Tn  1877  he  succeeded  (Jov.  Harriman  as  naval  officer  at  the  port  of  Boston. 
This  office  is  co-ordinate  Avith  that  of  collector,  upon  which  it  is  a  check.  Mr. 
IlaH's  business  habits,  his  keen  insight,  his  perfect  accuracy,  and  the  ruling 
principle  of  his  life  to  do  everything  well  and  thoroughly,  there  came  into  oper- 
ation. He  quietly  mastered  the  details  as  well  as  the  general  work  of  the  de- 
partment. Regularly  at  his  post,  his  office  became  a  model  in  its  management, 
and  was  commended  in  the  highest  terms  by  the  proper  officers.  When,  there- 
fore, his  term  expired,  he  was  re-appointed  for  another  four  years,  by  President 
Arthur,  with  no  serious  opposition. 

Mr.  Hall  married,  January  25,  1877,  Sophia,  daughter  of  Jonathan  T.  and 
Sarah  ( Hanson )  Dodge,  of  Rochester,  and  has  one  son,  Arthur  Wellesley  Hall, 
born  August  30,  1878.  The  beautiful  house  erected  and  occupied  by  him  in 
Dover,  and  adorned  with  cultivated  taste,  has  not  its  least  charm  in  the  steadily 
increasing  library  of  carefully  selected  literature,  to  whose  study  he  devotes  the 
hours  not  required  by  official  duties. 

He  attends  the  First  church  of  Dover,  the  Congregational  church,  where  his 
emisrrant  ancestor  held  office  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  ago.  He  is  a  radical 
teetotaler,  and  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  It  is  his  personal 
request  to  have  his  great  love  for  the  horse,  and,  indeed,  for  all  animals,  spoken 
of  in  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Hall's  gentle,  courteous,  and  unassuming  manners  do  not  meet  the  com- 
mon idea  of  the  bold  and  sagacious  politician.  His  modest  conversation  will 
suggest  scholarly  instincts,  but  requires  time  to  show  the  breadth  of  his  culture. 
Public  addresses  have,  as  occasions  demanded,  exhibited  the  thoughtful  political 
student,  a  patriotic  love  of  country,  and  the  ripeness  of  the  accomplished  scholar. 
Fidelity  to  every  engagement,  good  faith  to  every  principle  espoused,  firmness  in 
determination,  and  usefulness  in  every  work  undertaken,  have  insured  him  suc- 
cess. But  in  a  life  still  so  young,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  recognitions  of  public 
respect  will  be  greater  than  any  trusts  yet  given,  or  reputation  achieved,  in  his 
profession,  the  field  of  long  past  battles,  or  the  offices  of  public  honor. 


if^    >5^^P  ^^ 


HON.  DAVID  H.  GOODELL 


Olive  Atwood  Wright  was  one  of  a  large  family  of  children.  Her 
parents,  who  lived  in  Sullivan,  were  very  poor  and  found  it  difficult  to  provide 
for  the  many  who  were  dependent  upon  them,  and  when  Olive  was  fifteen  years 
of  ao-e  she  left  home  and  started  for  Boston  in  search  of  an  opportunity  to  earn 
her  own  living.  On  arriving  in  that  city  she  had  just  fifty  cents,  and  finding  no 
employment  there  she  proceeded  to  Waltham,  where  the  first  cotton-factory  in 
the  country  had  just  commenced  operations.  Here  she  found  some  old  acquaint- 
ances; but  they  refused  to  recognize  her  on  account  of  her  poverty.  She, 
however,  obtained  the  privilege  of  working  in  the  factory,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
year  visited  her  parents  with  eighty  times  as  much  money  in  her  pocket  as  she 
had  when  the  stage  left  her  in  Boston.  Eight  years  later  she  had  saved  from 
her  earnings  five  hundred  dollars,  and  having  married  a  young  farmer,  Jesse  R. 
Groodell,  went  to  live  with  him  upon  the  homestead  which  had  belonged  to  his  an- 
cestors, in  Hillsborough.  This  couple  were  the  parents  of  David  H.  Goodell, 
who  was  an  only  child,  and  was  born  May  6,  1834.  The  family  remained  upon 
the  Hillsborough  farm  until  1841,  when  it  was  sold  and  they  removed  to  another 
in  the  adjoining  town  of  Antrim. 

The  parents,  who  had  had  but  very  limited  school  privileges,  felt  keenly  the 
importance  of  an  education,  and  were  desirous  of  having  their  son  obtain  one. 
They  accordingly,  when  he  had  mastered  the  studies  of  the  common  school,  sent 
him  to  Hancock  Academy  several  terms,  and  then  to  New  Hampton,  and  he 
graduated  at  Francestown  in  the  summer  of  1852,  and  in  the  fall  entered  Brown 
T^niversity.  Here  he  took  high  rank  as  a  scholar,  winning  a  prize  in  mathe- 
matics, and  marking  within  one  degree  of  perfect  in  Jjatin ;  but  his  health  failed 
him  during  the  sophomore  year,  and  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  his  home. 
The  next  year  and  a  half  he  spent  upon  his  father's  farm,  and,  having  recovered 
his  health,  resumed  work  as  a  teacher,  in  which  he  was  engaged  two  terms  at 
Hubbardston,  Mass.,  one  at  New  London  Literary  and  Scientific  Institution,  and 
one  at  Leominster,  Mass. 

A  sedentary  life  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Goodell,  however,  and  he  again  went 
to  Antrim  with  the  intention  of  making  farming  his  permanent  business.  Soon 
after,  the  Antrim  Shovel  Company  was  organized,  and  he  was  called  from  the 
farm  to  act  as  its  treasurer  and  book-keeper.  A  year  later,  in  1858,  he  was  ap- 
pointed general  agent  of  the  company,  and  served  in  this  capacity  six  years,  the 
three  last  as  the  agent  of  Treadwell  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  who  had  purchased  the 
business  of  the  original  company.  In  18G4,  Oakes  Ames  bought  the  business, 
including  the  patents  covering  the  now  famous  Antrim  shovel,  and  moved  it  to 
North  Easton,  Mass.,  and  Mr.  Groodell,  in  company  with  (leorge  R.  Carter,  one 
of  the  firm  of  Treadwell  &  Co.,  began  in  a  small  way  the  manufacture  of  apple- 
parers.  He  invented  what  is  known  as  the  "lightning  apple-parer,"'  and  put 
it  upon  the  market  through  a  New  York  house,  which  sold  the  first  two  years  a 
few  hundred  dozen.  This  they  considered  a  good  business  ;  but  Mr.  Goodell  was 
16 


234  HON.    DAVID    H.    GOODELL. 

not  satisfied,  and  the  next  year  took  the  road  himself,  and  in  tliree  weeks'  time 
he  sold  two  thousand  dozcni,  and  made  the  invention  known  throu<;hout  the  country. 

In  1867  the  factory  was  burned,  and,  as  the  firm  carried  no  insurance,  it  lost 
everything ;  but  in  six  weeks  it  had  a  new  shop  in  operation,  and  was  able  to 
supply  the  demand  for  the  next  year,  which  rose  to  five  thousand  dozen.  In 
1870  another  calamity  overtook  the  enterprise.  The  firm  of  Goodell  &  Co.  owed 
at  that  time  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  dollars,  but  it  had  indorsed,  to  accom- 
modate one  of  the  partners,  the  notes  of  Treadwell  k  Co.  to  the  amount  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  failure  of  this  firm  sent  both  into  bankruptcy.  The 
result  of  this  trouble  was  that  Mr.  Goodell  bought  the  property  himself,  bor- 
rowed money  and  paid  its  debts,  paid  for  it  out  of  his  first  year's  }»rofits,  and  has 
since  been  able  to  greatly  enlarge  the  business  without  signing  a  note  for  himself 
or  anybody  else,  or  accepting  any  of  the  pecuniary  help  which  has  been  freely 
ofiered  him. 

Up  to  1872  he  directed  his  energies  mainly  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
parers;  but  in  that  year  he  helped  organize  the  Wood  Cutlery  Company  at  Ben- 
nin<>ton,  and  in  1875  united  it  with  his  private  business  and  transferred  the 
whole  to  the  (ioodell  Company,  of  which  he  owns  a  large  share  of  the  stock  and 
is  the  manager  and  controlling  spirit.  The  business  of  this  company  has  steadily 
increased  until  it  employs  one  hundred  and  fifty  hands,  and  pays  for  labor  more 
than  fifty  thousand  dollars  annually.  It  manufactures  all  kinds  of  table  cutlery, 
Cahoon  seed-sowers,  apple  and  potato-parers,  and  cherry-stoners. 

While  giving  his  closest  attention  to  these  manufacturing  enterprises,  Mr. 
Cloodell  has  taken  a  warm  interest  in  agriculture,  and  for  many  years  has  man- 
aged the  large  farm  that  formerly  belonged  to  his  father,  which  came  into  his 
possession  some  time  since,  and  upon  which  he  resides.  Here  he  demonstrates 
the  principles  of  progressive  and  profitable  husbandry  and  stock-raising,  extends 
a  hearty  welcome  to  his  friends,  and  enjoys  the  peace  and  plenty  which  are  re- 
served for  the  gentleman  farmer.  He  has  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  New 
England  Agricultural  Society  for  several  years,  and  organized  and  was  for  a  time 
president  of  the  Oak  Park  Association,  and  is  an  active  member  of  the  New 
Hampshire  board  of  agriculture. 

Mr.  Groodell  has  always  been  an  ardent,  wide-awake,  and  working  liepublican, 
and  when  the  party,  under  his  leadership,  wrested  the  town  from  the  opposition 
in  187(5,  he  became  its  representative  in  the  legislature,  to  which  position  he  was 
re-elected  in  1877-78.  In  the  house  he  established  and  maintained  a  reputation 
as  one  of  the  most  judicious  counselors  and  most  efi"ective  speakers  in  the  state, 
and  commanded  the  confidence  of  his  colleagues  to  such  an  extent  that  no  meas- 
ure which  he  advocated  was  defeated,  and  none  that  he  opposed  was  successful. 
Among  the  important  bills  which  were  carried  through  largely  by  his  judicious 
and  earnest  support  was  that  for  the  erection  of  a  new  state-prison. 

Mr.  Groodell's  wife  was  Hannah  Jane  Plumer,  a  daughter  of  Jesse  T.  Plumer, 
of  Goff"stown.  He  has  two  children,  —  Dura  Dana  Goodell,  born  September  6, 
1858,  and  Richard  C.  Goodell,  born  August  10,  1868.  The  family  are  members 
of  the  Baptist  church  of  Antrim,  as  were  the  father  and  mother  of  Mr.  Goodell. 

These  facts  justify  the  claim  of  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and  acijuaintances. 
who  look  upon  him  as  one  of  the  strongest  men  of  the  state,  and  one  for  whom 
high  honors  are  in  reserve.  Though  still  in  his  prime,  he  has  won  a  position  of 
which  any  man  should  be  proud.  His  large  manufticturing  business,  which  has 
given  the  town  new  life  and  prosperity,  is  of  his  own  creation;  his  farm  is  a 
model  which  invites  healthy  progress ;  his  private  character  is  without  a  blemish ; 
his  business  credit  above  suspicion ;  his  reputation  as  a  citizen,  neighbor,  and 
friend  is  of  the  best;  and  his  ability  to  fill  any  public  position  creditably  and 
well  is  universally  acknowledged. 


JOSIAH  G.  GRAVES.  M.  D. 


BY    B.    B.    AVHITTEMORE. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch,  Josiah  Griswold  Graves,  was  born  July  13, 
1811,  in  Walpole,  N.  H.,  one  of  the  loveliest  villages  in  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut. His  father  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  his  mother  a  woman  of  the 
olden  time,  who  looked  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household, —  a  woman  of  superior 
mind  and  excellent  judgment. 

Not  having  a  fancy  for  farming  —  and  thus  acting  contrary  to  the  wishes  of 
his  father  —  he  left  home  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  with  his  mother's  blessing  and 
one  dollar  in  money,  determined  upon  .securing  an  education  and  fitting  himself 
for  the  medical  profession.  He  defrayed  the  expenses  of  his  education  by  his 
own  individual  efforts  and  native  energy  of  will  and  industry,  by  teaching  both 
day  and  evening,  and  was  remarkably  successful  in  his  labors.  Being  a  natural 
penman,  he  also  gave  instruction  in  the  art  of  penmanship. 

He  commenced  the  study  of  his  profession  in  1829.  He  \\as  a  student  in 
medicine  in  the  office  of  Drs.  Adams  and  Twitchell,  of  Keene,  and  subsequently 
attended  medical  lectures  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  and  graduated  at  Williamstown 
Medical  College  in  183-1.  Afterwards  he  spent  six  months  in  the  office  of  Drs. 
Huntington  and  Graves  in  Lowell. 

Dr.  Graves  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Nashua,  N.  H.,  Sep- 
tember 15,  1834.  At  this  time  Nashua  was  a  comparatively  young  town,  the 
compact  part  of  the  present  city  having  then  had  but  ten  years'  growth.  He 
went  up  the  Merrimack  river  on  the  old  steamboat  then  plying  on  the  Merri- 
mack, landing  a  little  below  what  was  then  the  Taylor's  Falls  bridge.  His  first 
patient  was  a  pauper,  who  was  badly  injured  accidentally.  After  adequate  treat- 
ment the  man  was  placed  on  his  feet  again,  a  well  man.  Such  a  patient  was 
not  very  remunerative,  and  did  not  tend  to  fill  an  empty  pocket.  This  was  evi- 
denced by  the  fac'  that  a  carpenter  who  was  applied  to  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing a  wood-box  declined  the  job  and  refused  to  trust  the  young  doctor. 
Necessity  being  the  mother  of  invention,  the  doctor  was  obliged  to  construct  that 
useful  article  himself.  It  was  but  a  brief  period,  however,  before  energy,  deter- 
mination, and  superior  medical  and  surgical  skill  carved  out  for  him  an  extensive 
practice.  For  forty  years  he  followed  his  profession  in  Nashua  and  the  adjoin- 
ing region  with  untiring  assiduity,  and  with  a  success  that  has  but  few  parallels. 
He  loved  his  profession  and  gave  to  it  his  b3.st  powers.  He  was  gifted  in  a 
remirkable  degree  with  a  keen  insight  into  the  nature  of  disease,  and  of  course 
his  suceess  was  in  proportion  to  his  fitness  for  his  calling.  He  did  not  need  to 
be  told  symptoms;  he  knew  by  intuition  where  the  break  in  the  constitution  was, 
and  how  to  rebuild  and  give  new  life.  He  was  made  for  his  profession,  and  not 
his  profession  for  him,  which  is  too  often  the  case. 


236  JOSIAH   G.    GRAVES,    M.   D. 

After  several  years'  ])ractice,  desirous  of  further  iuiprovement,  he  took  a 
degree  at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia.  At  the  time  of  the  rebellion 
the  governor  and  council  of  New  Hampshire  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
Medical  Board  of  FiXaminers. 

For  the  past  few  years  Dr.  Graves  has  been  much  interested  in  railroads, 
East  and  West ;  has  been  a  director  in  the  Nashua  &  Lowell  llailroad  and  other 
roads,  and  is  now  president  of  the  Texas  Trunk  Kailroad.  He  is  a  director  in 
the  Faneuil  Hall  Insurance  Company,  and  in  the  Metropolitan  steamship  line  ; 
and  is  also  connected  with  many  other  financial  interests  of  a  comprehensive 
character. 

A  few  years  ago  Dr.  Graves  made  an  extensive  land  purchase  at  Scituate, 
Mass.,  containing  two  hundred  acres  or  more,  which  he  calls  his  "  Mound  Farm." 
It  lies  on  an  elevation,  bordering  on  the  ocean,  and  is  considered  by  those  fa- 
miliar with  the  "  South  Shore  "  as  the  most  eligible  location,  and  as  commanding 
the  finest  prospect  oceanwards,  of  any  in  that  popular  and  beautiful  summer 
resort.  Here  the  doctor  has  erected  a  few  dwelling-houses,  and  has  sold  lots  to 
others  who  have  erected  summer  residences.  These  houses  are  elegantly  and 
conveniently  constructed,  and  so  located  as  to  enable  their  owners  to  enjoy  an 
unobstructed  ocean  view,  as  well  as  the  ocean  breezes.  In  one  word,  it  is,  in  and 
of  itself,  a  villa  of  extensive  proportions,  and  is  destined  to  become  still  more 
extensive  in  the  future.  The  doctor  has  recently  made  large  purchases  of 
adjoining  lands,  and  is  already  engaged  in  farming  on  a  large  scale,  and  intro- 
ducing improved  modes  of  cultivation.  Here,  with  his  family,  he  spends  his 
summers,  residing  in  Nashua  or  at  the  South  during  the  winter. 

At  the  age  of  seventy,  Dr.  Graves  is  still  active  and  remarkably  well  pre- 
served, and  much  more  active  than  many  younger  men.  He  has  a  business  office 
in  Boston,  and  manages  his  large  estate  with  as  much  foresight  and  sagacity  as 
when  in  the  prime  of  life  and  engaged  in  accumulating  his  fortune. 

Dr.  Graves  was  married  to  Mary  W.  Boardman,  daughter  of  the  late  Col. 
William  Boardman,  of  Nashua,  in  1846. 

As  a  man,  J^r.  Graves  is  distinguished  for  his  firmness.  His  opinions  he 
maintains  with  resoluteness  until  jrood  reasons  induce  him  to  chan<re  them.  He 
means  ye&  when  he  says  "yes,"  and  no  when  he  says  '-no."  He  is  a  man 
of  a  positive  character.  It  is  needless  to  say,  that,  while  such  a  man  always 
has  enemies,  (as  what  man  of  ability  and  energetic  character  has  not?)  he  has 
firm  and  lasting  friends,  — -  friends  from  the  fact  that  they  always  know  where  to 
find  him.  Among  the  many  self-made  men  whom  New  Hampshire  has  pro- 
duced, he  takes  rank  among  the  first;  and  by  his  indomitable  energy,  industry, 
and  enterprise  has  not  only  made  his  mark  in  the  world,  but  has  achieved  a  rep- 
utation in  his  profession  and  business  on  which  himself  and  friends  may  reflect 
with  just  pride. 


HON.  WARREN  F.  DANIELL 


In  almost  every  instance,  those  who,  during  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century,  laid  about  the  waterfalls  of  New  Hampshire  the  foundations  of  our 
manufacturing  villages,  builded  better  than  they  knew.  They  were  generally 
men  of  limited  means,  moderate  ambitions,  and  democratic  instincts ;  and  they 
established  their  shojis  and  factories  without  expectation  that  they  were  changing 
worthless  plains  and  forests  into  cities,  or  plain  mechanics  into  millionaires. 
They  aimed  only  to  create  productive  industries  in  which  they  and  their  few 
employes,  meeting  on  equal  terms,  could  work  together  and  win  a  fair  reward  for 
their  labor.  But  they  were  skillful  workmen,  good  managers,  courageous,  per- 
sistent, and  equal  to  all  their  opportunities,  and  under  their  inspiration  and  direc- 
tion their  enterprises  have  grown  into  great  proportions,  which  have  made  the 
fortunes  of  their  owners,  and  called  into  being  communities  that  are  models  of 
the  best  that  skill,  intelligence,  and  thrift  can  produce. 

To  this  class  of  men  belonged  Kendall  0.  and  James  L.  Peabody  and  Jere- 
miah V.  Daniell,  who,  fifty  years  ago,  built  a  paper-mill  in  the  forest  that  then 
grew  about  the  falls  upon  the  Winnipesaukee,  where  the  wealthy,  wide-awake, 
and  beautiful  village  of  Franklin  Falls  now  stands.  The  Peabodys,  who  were 
bakers  by  trade,  built  a  small  mill  at  this  point  about  the  year  1828.  In  dispos- 
ing of  their  jiroduction  as  bakers  they  accumulated  large  ((uantities  of  cotton 
rags,  and,  as  there  was  little  demand  for  these,  they  built  a  miniature  paper-mill 
to  convert  them  into  a  more  salable  commodity.  Their  knowledge  of  the  paper 
business  was  very  limited,  their  machinery  of  the  most  primitive  kind,  and  their 
experiment  was  not  at  first  a  success ;  but  they  were  men  not  easily  turned  from 
their  purposes,  and,  feeling  that  what  they  lacked  was  a  practical  paper-maker, 
one  of  them  went  to  Massachusetts  in  search  of  one.  He  found  there  Jeremiah 
F.  Daniell,  who  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  had  seen  twenty-one  years  of  service  in 
a  paper-mill,  and  knew  the  business  thoroughly.  This  young  man  had  been 
trained  in  a  hard  school,  and  was  by  education  as  well  as  by  natural  abilities 
well  qualified  to  prove  an  efiicient  helper  to  men,  who,  like  the  Peabodys,  were 
trying  to  establish  a  new  enterprise  in  the  fiice  of  many  discouragements.  He 
began  his  apprenticeship  when  a  boy  of  fourteen,  and  from  that  time  until  he 
reached  his  majority  most  of  his  scanty  earnings  went  to  support  a  widowed 
mother  and  orphaned  brothers  and  sisters. 

When  he  became  of  age,  his  entire  property  consisted  of  a  suit  of  clothes, 
and  a  five-dollar  bill  which  proved  to  be  counterfeit.  With  these  he  started, 
carrying  his  shoes  in  his  hand  (as  a  matter  of  economy),  to  obtain  employment 
at  his  trade,  which  he  found  at  Pepperell.  Here  he  remained  several  years,  and 
during  the  time  married  Sarah  Pteed,  of  Harvard,  Mass.,  by  whom  he  had  two 
children,  Warren  F.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was  born  June  2G,  1826, 
and  Mary,  who  died  in  infancy.  Subsequently  he  manufactured  paper  for  him- 
self in  Dorchester  and  Methuen,  Mass.,  and  in  1833  went  West.  Not  finding  a 
promising  opening,  he  returned  to  Massachusetts  and  was  met  by  Mr.  Peabody, 


238  HON.    WARKEN    F.    DANIELL. 

who  arranged  for  him  to  go  to  Franklin  and  taki'  charge  (»!'  the  mill  there,  in 
which  he  was  given  an  interest.  This  he  did,  and,  when  a  few  niontlis  later  his 
family  joined  him,  the  Daniell  homestead  was  permanently  established  at  the  head 
ot  the  Merrimack.  The  first  efforts  of  the  young  manager  were  directed  to  sup- 
plying the  mill  with  improved  machinery,  a  ilifficult  task,  as  the  owners  had  little 
money  to  sjtare,  and  the  nc^arest  machine-shop  in  which  an  order  for  that  class  of 
machinery  could  be  tilled  was  at  South  Windham.  Conn.,  I)Mt,  tinally,  two  eight- 
horse  teams  closed  a  three  weeks'  journey  by  landing  in  Franklin  a  newly  invented 
pa[>er-machine,  and  the  mill  was  ready  to  run  in  a  few  months.  Meantime,  Mr. 
Daniell  had  jiurchased  the  interest  of  J.  L.  Peabody,  in  the  firm  whicli  thus  be- 
came Peabody  &  Daniell.  The  macliinery  was  scarcely  in  position  when  a  fire 
destroyed  the  factory  and  its  contents,  leaving  the  owners,  in  the  midst  of  the 
hard  times  of  1SH7,  bankrupt  in  nearly  everytliing  but  courage,  reputation,  and  a 
determination  to  succeed,  which  enal)led  them,  after  many  struggles,  to  rebuild 
and  j)roceed  in  a  small  way  with  their  ])usiness.  The  erection  of  tlie  cotton-mills 
at  Manchester  .soon  after  gave  them  an  opjiortunity  to  purchase  large  amounts  of 
paper  stock  at  low  prices,  and  from  that  time  they  were  moderately  prosperous. 

The  next  year  after  the  removal  of  Mr.  Daniell  from  IMassachusetts  his  wife 
died,  and  a  year  later  he  married  Annette  Eastnuin,  of  Concord.  His  son  Warren 
was  at  that  time  a  wide-awake  boy,  ten  years  old.  He  had  picked  iiji  a  little 
book  knowledge  in  the  Massachusetts  schools,  anil  in  order  that  he  might  be  fur- 
ther educated  without  much  (expense  he  was  sent  to  Concord,  where  he  worked 
upon  a  farm  for  his  board  and  clothes  and  privilege  of  attending  school  a  short 
time  each  winter,  until  he  was  fourteen,  when  he  was  called  home  and  entered 
the  pa})er-mill  as  an  a])]U'entice,  to  learn  the'  business  with  which  his  name  is  now 
so  prominently  identilied.  It  was  his  purpose  at  a  later  period  to  attend  the 
academy  at  Tilton  ;  but  on  the  day  on  which  the  term  began  his  father  was 
severely  burned  by  an  accident,  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  his  j)lace  in  the  mill. 
No  other  time  apj)eared  when  he  could  well  be  spared,  and  he  continued  working- 
there  until  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age.  and  was  a  master  of  tlie  trade  in  all 
its  branches. 

As  a  journeyman,  liis  wages  were  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  day,  a 
sum  which  he  found  sufficient  to  provide,  in  those  days  of  frugality,  for  all  the 
needs  of  himself  «and  his  young  wife  and  child.  He  was,  however,  ambitious  at 
some  future  time  to  have  a  mill  of  his  own,  and  with  this  object  in  view  left 
Franklin  and  contracted  with  parties  at  Waterville,  Me.,  to  erect  and  run  for  them 
a  paper-mill  at  that  place.  This  occupied  him  for  one  year,  when  he  took  charge 
of  another  mill  at  Pepperell.  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  1854.  In  that 
year  his  father  bought  out  Mr.  Peabody,  and  offered  to  sell  him  half  the  estab- 
lishment if  he  would  return  to  Franklin,  which  he  did.  The  firm  was  then  J.  F. 
Daniell  &  Son,  and  for  the  next  ten  years  the  business  prospered  under  that 
name.  In  186-f  Wan-en  bought  his  father's  interest,  and  was  sole  proprietor 
until  1870,  when  the  mill  property,  which  had  grown  from  modest  beginnings  to 
be  one  of  the  largest  and  best  known  private  manufacturing  establishments  in 
the  state,  was  sold  to  a  company  of  Massachusetts  capitalists  who  had  organized 
as  the  Winnipiseogee  Paper  Company.  Mr.  Daniell  then  become  connected 
with  a  large  paper-house  in  Boston  and  "removed  to  that  city.  He  soon  tired  of 
life  in  that  crowded  metropolis,  and,  returning  to  his  old  home,  he  purchased  a 
large  interest  in  the  company  that  had  succeeded  him  there,  and  became  its  resi- 
dent agent  and  manager,  which  position  he  still  occupies.  This  company  owns 
and  operates  at  Franklin  large  paper-mills  supplied  with  the  best  machinery, 
employs  three  hundred   men   and   women,   and  produces   nearly   twenty  tons  of 

1 


HON.    WARREN   P.    DANIELL.  239 

paper  daily,  and  reflects,  in  its  abounding  success,  the  sagacity,  energy,  and  enter- 
prise of  the  man  who  plans  and  directs  its  operations,  who,  without  the  helj)  ot 
a  liberal  education  or  wealthy  friends,  has  won  his  way  by  hard  and  patient  work 
to  a  first  place  among  the  business  men  of  New  Hampshire. 

Few  men  in  our  state  have  been  so  uniformly  successful,  and  none  in  com- 
l)a8sing  their  own  success  have  contributed  more  to  that  of  others.  In  climbing 
up,  Warren  F.  Daniell  has  pulled  no  one  down.  The  village  of  three  thou'^ 
sand  busy,  prosperous,  and  happy  people  is  largely  the  creation  of  the  paper-mill, 
in  which  he  has  made  his  money,  and  its  most  creditable  characteristics  are  in  no 
small  degree  the  results  of  his  counsel  and  liberality.  The  business  world  ac- 
knowledges him  as  a  man  of  undoubted  integrity,  thoroughly  responsible,  and 
eminently  successful.  His  townsmen  and  fellow-citizens  of  New  Hampshire 
know  him  as  a  genial,  unassuming  man,  whose  good  fellowship  never  tires,  whose 
generosity  is  inexhaustible,  and  as  one  who  is  never  too  busy  with  his  own  affairs 
to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  any  cause  or  person  that  deserves  it ;  as  a  citizen  and 
friend  and  neighbor  who  has  shown  them  how  to  get  money  rapidly,  and  how  to 
spend  it  freely,  intelligently,  and  helpfully. 

Mr.  Daniell's  first  wife  was  Elizabeth  D.  Rundlett,  of  Stratham,  N.  H.  The 
marriage  occurred  in  1850.  and  Mrs.  Daniell  died  while  he  was  at  Pepperell,  in 
1854.  _  He  married  Abbie  A.  Sanger,  of  Concord,  in  October,  18(30,  who  presides 
over  his  elegant  home,  which  is  located  near  the  confluence  of  the  Winnipesaukee 
and  Pemigewasset  rivers,  and  surrounded  by  a  broad  intervale  which  liberal  out- 
lays have  made  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful  spots  in  the  Merrimack 
valley.  He  has  five  boys:  Harry  W.,  by  his  first  wife ;  and  Eugene  S.,  Otis, 
Warren  F.,  and  Jerie  R.,  the  fruit  of  his  second  marriage. 

He  is  an  enthusiastic  farmer,  and  owns  across  the  river  from  his  home  a  laro-e 
and  productive  farm.  He  has  long  been  the  owner  of  the  best  herd  of  Jersey 
cattle  in  the  state ;  his  stables  always  contain  some  of  the  finest  and  fleetest 
horses ;  he  admires  a  good  dog,  and  is  a  skillful  breeder  of  swine  and  poultry. 
He  has  contributed  much  to  the  introduction  of  improved  stock,  crops,  and  farm 
machinery  in  his  neighborhood;  has  been  active  and  liberal  in  sustaining  the  state 
and  local  agricultural  societies,  and  in  otherwise  promoting  the  farming  interest. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Daniell  is  a  Democrat;  and  such  has  been  his  ^popularity 
among  those  who  have  known  him  best,  that  even  when  Franklin  gave  a  Repub- 
lican majority  of  seventy-five  he  was  several  times  elected  to  represent  it  in  the 
house,  and  subsequently  was  chosen  a  state  senator  two  years  in  succession  in  a 
district  which  no  other  Democrat  could  have  carried.  He  represented  his  party 
in  the  national  convention  of  1872,  and  has  always  been  one  of  its  trusted  coun- 
selors and  most  efficient  workers.  That  he  would  have  been  its  candidate  for 
governor  and_  congress  but  for  his  refusal  to  accept  the  position  is  generally 
known.  During  the  war  he  gave  himself  unreservedly  to  the  cause  of  the  Union 
as  represented  by  the  ''boys  in  blue,'"  voting  steadily  to  raise  and  equip  all  the 
men  who  were  needed,  giving  liberally  of  his  means  to  provide  for  them  and 
their  families,  and  supporting,  by  word  and  deed  on  all  occasions  and  in  all  places 
the  cause  for  which  they  fought.  ' 


JONATHAN  SAWYER. 


KV     KKW    (iKO.    ]{.    SI'ALDINO.     I).    I). 


1.  John  Sawvek,  a  farnn'r  in  Ijincnhiphire,  England,  had  three  sons, 
William,  Edward,  and  Thomas,  who  omigrated  to  this  country  in  KiHfi,  being 
passengers  in  a  ship  commanded  hy  C'ajit.  Parker.  They  i)robably  settled  in 
Rowley,  Mass. 

2.  Thomas  Sawyer  went  to  Lanca.ster,  Mass.,  as  early  as  1047,  when  he  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age.  This  section  of  the  Nashaway  valley,  comprising 
eighty  square  miles  in  extent,  had  been  piircha.sed  in  IM'ii  by  Thomas  King,  of 
Watertown,  Mass.,  of  8cholan,  sachem  of  the  Nashaway  Indians.  Thomas 
Sawyer  was  one  of  the  first  six  settlers.  His  name  appears  in  the  petition  made 
to  the  general  court  in  1053  for  the  incorporation  of  the  town  of  Lancaster. 
In  1047,  the  year  of  his  arrival,  he  married  Mary  Prescott.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  John  l^rescott,  to  whom  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the  first  per- 
manent inhabitant  of  Lancaster.  The  eminent  historian,  "William  II.  Prescott, 
traces  his  ancestral  line  to  this  John  Prescott.  There  were  born  to  Thomas 
Sawyer  and  Mary  Prescott  eleven  children.  This  family  figures  largely  in  that 
most  tragic  page  of  the  history  of  Lancaster  which  tells  of  the  massacres  and 
captivities  of  its  inhabitants,  and  the  entire  destruction  of  the  town  itself  by  the 
Indians.  On  the  land  of  Thomas  Sawyer  stood  the  Sawyer  garrison,  into  which 
were  gathered  the  survivors  of  that  most  murderous  attack  made  upon  the  town 
in  the  winter  of  1075-70.  At  this  time  his  second  son,  Ephraim,  who  was  at  the 
Prescott  garrison,  was  killed  by  the  Indians.  Thirty-tw'o  years  later,  1708,  the 
oldest  son,  Thomas,  and  his  son  Elias  were  captured  by  the  Indians  and  taken  to 
Canada.  When  the  party  reached  Montreal,  the  father  offered  to  put  up  a  mill 
on  the  river  Chambly,  on  condition  that  the  French  governor  would  obtain  the 
release  of  all  the  captives.  Thus  the  first  mill  in  Canada  was  built  by  Thomas 
Sawyer.  He  was  liberated,  but  his  son  Elias  was  detained  for  a  time  to  teach 
the  Canadians  "  the  art  of  sawing  and  keeping  the  mill  in  order,  and  then  was 
dismissed  with  rich  presents." 

3.  Caleb  Sawyer,  the  sixth  child  of  Thomas,  was  born  in  1059,  in  Lancaster, 
Mass.  He  married  Sarah  Houghton,  thus  effecting  an  alliance  between  two  of 
the  most  prominent  families  who  organized  the  town  of  Lancaster.  Caleb  Sawyer 
died  in  1755,  leaving  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

4.  Seth  Sawyer,  the  oldest  son  of  Caleb,  was  born  in  1705;  married  Miss 
Hepsabeth  Whitney;  died  in  1708. 

5.  Caleb  Sawyer,  the  second  son  of  Seth,  was  born  in  1737,  at  Harvard, 
Mass.,  a  part  of  Lancaster  which  in  1732  had  been  incorporated  as  a  town  by 
itself.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  Patch  in  1700.  They  had  tAvo  sons,  Phineas 
and  Jonathan.  Jonathan  remained  on  the  home  farm  at  Harvard,  which  is  still 
occupied  by  his  descendants. 

6.  Phineas  Sawyer  was  born  at  Harvard,  Mass.,  in  1708.  He  went  to  Marl- 
borough, Mass.,  now  Hudson,  in  1800.  He  bought  a  mill  property  there,  con- 
sisting of  a  saw,  grist,  and  wire-drawing  mill.     In  1806  he  built  a  cotton-mill, 


JONATHAN    SAWYER.  241 

and  operated  it  until  the  close  of  the  war  in  1815.  It  required  in  those  days 
immense  enterprise  and  energy  to  project  and  carr-y  on  such  a  work  as  a  cotton- 
factory.  The  machinery  was  procured  from  Rhode  Island.  The  ginning-machine 
had  not  yet  come  into  general  use.  The  cotton,  when  received,  was  distributed 
among  the  farmers,  to  have  the  seeds  picked  out  one  by  one  by  their  families. 
It  was  carded  and  spun  by  water  power,  at  the  mill.  It  was  then  sent  out  again 
among  the  farmers  to  be  woven  into  cloth.  Phineas  Sawyer  was  a  man  of  great 
independence  of  character,  self-reliant,  and  full  of  courage.  These  qualities,  so 
conspicuous  in  his  business  aftairs,  shone  out  with  untliminished  power  in  his 
religious  life.  He  lived  at  a  time  in  Massachusetts  when  Methodism  was  re- 
garded with  special  disfavor.  But  Mr.  Sawyer,  believing  that  the  Methodists 
were  right,  believed  so  with  all  his  heart,  and  the  petty  persecutions  to  which 
his  faith  was  subjected  only  intensified  his  zeal  and  loyalty.  His  house  was  the 
home  for  all  traveling  Methodists,  and  the  }»lace  where  they  gathered  for  reli- 
gious worship.  He  was  well  versed  in  the  best  Methodist  literature  of  his  times. 
He  stands  forth  in  the  annals  of  his  church  as  one  of  the  foremost  men,  for 
sagacity,  boldness,  and  piety,  in  the  Needham  circuit.  He  had  for  his  wife  a 
worthy  helpmeet,  Hannah  Whitney,  of  Harvard.  She  was  as  ardently  attached 
to  Methodism  as  was  her  husband,  and  bore  her  full  share  of  service  and  sacrifice 
for  it  in  its  days  of  weakness  and  persecution.  The  sudden  death  of  her  hus- 
band, which  took  place  in  1820,  left  Mrs.  Sawyer  to  provide  for  the  support  of 
twelve  children,  the  youngest,  Jonathan,  being  then  two  years  old.  This  truly 
noble  woman,  with  but  little  means,  faced  the  difficulties  before  her  with  an  un- 
flinching spirit  of  faith  and  hopefulness.  It  required  superlative  fortitude, 
finest  sagacity,  and  sternest  self-sacrifice  to  have  enabled  this  mother  to  success- 
fully rear  these  twelve  children,  give  to  them  a  good  education,  and  establish  all 
of  them  in  respectable  positions  in  the  world.  She  continued  to  live  in  Marl- 
borough some  nine  years,  leasing  the  mill  property.  In  1829  she  went  to  Lowell, 
where  she  lived  twenty  years,  dying  there  in  1849,  greatly  respected  by  all  who 
knew  her,  and  held  in  honor  and  affection  by  her  many  children. 

7.  Jonathan  Sawyer,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  youngest  child 
of  Phineas.  He  was  born  at  Marlborough,  Mass.,  in  1817.  He  went  with  his 
mother  and  other  members  of  the  family  when  he  was  twelve  years  old,  to 
Lowell,  where  for  the  next  few  years  he  attended  school.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  first  class  that  entered  the  high  school  of  that  city,  having  among  his 
mates  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Gov.  E.  A.  Straw,  and  G.  V.  Fox,  assistant 
secretary  of  the  navy  during  the  civil  war.  Bishop  Thomas  M.  Clark  was  the 
principal  of  this  school.  On  account  of  a  severe  sickness,  young  Sawyer  at  six- 
teen years  of  age  left  school,  and  while  recruiting  his  health  made  a  visit  to  his 
brother,  Alfred  Ira  Sawyer,  who,  after  some  experience  as  a  dyer  at  Amesbury 
and  Grreat  Falls,  had  come  in  1824  to  Dover,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  operating  a 
grist-mill,  a  custom  carding  and  cloth-dressing  mill,  converting  this  last  into  a 
flannel-mill.  Jonathan  remained  in  Dover  two  years,  going  to  school  and  work- 
ing for  his  brother.  In  the  fall  of  1835  he  returned  to  Lowell.  His  mother, 
for  the  purpose  of  conferring  upon  her  son  a  more  complete  education,  sent  him 
to  the  great  Methodist  school  at  Wilbraham,  which  at  that  time  was  a  most  flour- 
ishing preparatory  school  for  the  Wesleyan  University  at  Middletown,  Conn. 
Here  he  remained  two  terms,  when,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  returning  to  Lowell, 
he  went  into  a  woolen  establishment  as  a  dyer.  Afterwards  he  went  into  this 
business  on  his  own  account,  and  continued  in  it  until  1839. 

During  the  latter  part  of  this  time  he  was  not  so  engrossed  in  his  business 
but  that  he  found  time  to  make  frequent  visits  to  New  Ipswich,  where  Mies 
Martha  Perkins,  of  Barnard,  Vt.,  was  attending  school.  In  1839  they  were 
married,  and  went  to  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  where  Mr.  Sawyer  became  the  superin- 


242  JONATHAN    SAWYER. 

tendent  of  the  Hamilton  Woolen  Company.  After  two  and  a  half  years,  Mr. 
Sawyer  went  into  business  for  the  manufacture  of  satinets.  In  185(1.  liis  brother 
Alfred  having  died  at  Dover,  N.  H.,  the  year  before,  and  the  children  being  too 
young  to  carry  on  the  business,  Mr.  Jonathan  Sawyer  assumed  its  control  in  con- 
nection witli  his  brother  Zenas.  Two  years  later  Zenas  retired,  and  Francis  A. 
Sawyer,  who  had  been  a  jDrominent  builder  in  Boston,  became  a  partner  with 
Jonathan,  the  object  being  to  continue  tlie  manufacture  of  woolen  flannels.  In 
1858  the  property  Ix'low  known  as  the  ''  Moses  mill,"  another  flannel  manufac- 
tory, was  purchased.  This  mill  was  enlarged  in  1800  to  four  sets  of  machinery, 
again  in  ISGi)  to  eight,  and  in  188(1  and  1882  to  sixteen  sets.  The  old  machin- 
ery is  now  completely  replaced  by  new.  The  old  mill,  started  in  18i}2,  was  in 
1872  replaced  ])y  the  present  substantial  structure,  which  contains"  fourteen  sets 
of  machinery,  with  preparing  and  finishing  machinery  for  thirty  sets  in  both  mills. 

Since  18GG  the  attention  of  these  noted  manufacturers  has  been  entirely 
devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  fine  fancy  cassimere  cloths  and  suitings.  Already 
they  have  established  for  these  goods  a  foremost  ])lace  in  their  class.  At  the 
Centennial  Exhibition,  at  Philadelphia,  a  medal  ami  diploma  were  awarded  the 
Sawyer  goods,  for  their  "high  intrinsic  merit."  The  l)usiness  has,  since  18TH, 
been  carried  on  as  a  corporation,  having  a  capital  of  six  hundred  tliousand  dol- 
lars. The  corporation  consists  of  the  old  firm  of  F.  A.*  and  J.  Sawyer,  and 
Charles  H.  Sawyer,  the  present  agent  of  the  establishment.  In  180()  this  com- 
pany made  a  bold  innovation  on  the  method  that  was  so  long  in  vogue  among 
manufacturers,  of  consigning  their  goods  to  commission  houses.  The  under- 
taking upon  which  this  company  entered,  of  selling  their  own  goods,  was  met 
with  great  opposition  ;  but  their  boldness  and  foresight  have  already  been  justi- 
fied by  the  success  which  they  have  made,  and  the  adoption  of  their  methods  by 
other  manufacturers.  This  establishment  can  now  look  back  upon  a  half-century 
of  remarkable  history.  The  unmajred  reputation  for  strictest  integrity  wliich 
these  managers  have  won,  their  far-reaching  enterprise,  and  the  unsurpassed 
excellences  of  their  fabrics,  have  enabled  them  to  prosperously  pass  through  all 
the  financial  depressions  and  panics  which  so  many  times  have  swept  over  the 
country  during  this  long  period. 

Mr.  Jonathan  Sawyer,  with  his  vigor  of  mind  and  body  still  unimpaired, 
lives  in  his  elegant  mansion,  which  looks  out  upon  a  magnificent  picture  of  wood 
and  vale  and  mountain  range,  and  down  upon  the  busy  scene  of  his  many  years 
of  tireless  industry.  He  loves  his  home,  in  the  adornment  of  which  his  fine 
taste  finds  full  play.  When  free  from  business  he  is  always  there.  He  loves 
his  books,  and  his  conversation  shows  an  unusual  breadth  of  reading  in  science, 
history,  and  politics.  He  is  possessed  of  a  strong,  clear  intellect,  a  calm,  dispas- 
sionate judgment,  and  sympathies  which  always  bring  him  to  the  side  of  the 
wronged  and  the  suffering.  At  a  time  when  anti-slavery  sentiments  were  unpop- 
ular, Mr.  Sawyer  was  free  in  their  utterance,  and  was  among  the  first  to  form 
the  Free-soil  party.  Since  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  Mr.  Sawyer 
has  been  among  its  strongest  supporters.  He  has  persistently  declined  the  many 
ofllices  of  honor  and  profit  which  those  acquainted  with  his  large  intelligence  and 
sagacity  and  stainless  honesty  have  sought  to  confer  upon  him.  He  is  abun- 
dantly content  to  exercise  his  business  powers  in  developing  still  more  the  great 
manufactory,  and  his  affections  upon  his  large  household  and  his  chosen  friends, 
and  his  public  spirit  in  helping  every  worthy  cause  and  person  in  the  community. 

The  children  of  Mr.  Sawyer,  all  of  whom  have  grown  up  to  maturity,  are 
Charles  Henry,  Mary  Elizabeth,  Francis  Asbury,  Roswell  Douglas,  Martha 
Frances,  Alice  May,  Frederic  Jonathan. 

*  Francis  A.  Sa-wyer  died  June  16,  1881. 


DR.  ASA  CROSBY  AND  SONS. 


BY    S.    P.    HADLEY 


In  giving  a  notice  of  Judge  Crosby  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  as  originally  contem- 
plated, at  his  request  and  with  the  consent  of  the  publisher,  I  am  desired  to 
give  it  in  the  character  of  a  family  notice,  or  rather  of  the  father  and  sons,  now 
all  deceased  except  the  judge. 

Dr.  Asa  Crosby,  the  father,  was  born  in  Amlierst  (now  Milford),  N.  H., 
July  15.  1765,  and  died  at  Hanover,  N.  H.,  April  12,  1836.  He  married 
Betsey  Hoit,  daughter  of  Judge  Nathan  Hoit,  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas.  He  was  in  the  sixth  generation 
from  Simon  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  who  arrived  in  the  '-Susan  and  Ellyn"  in 
1635,  the  direct  line  being  Simon,  Simon,  Josiah,Josiah,  and  Josiah  his  father, 
born  in  Billerica,  Mass.,  November  24, 1730.  Sarah  Fitch,  his  mother,  was  born  in 
Bedford,  Mass.,  March  25, 1732.  The  Crosby  families  mostly  inhabited  Billerica, 
Mass.,  where  many  of  the  decendants  still  reside,  although  some  lived  in  the 
ancient  town  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  and  others  on  Cape  Cod.  His  father  settled 
in  Amherst,  N.  H.,  where  he  died  October  15,  1763.  His  mother  lived  until 
September  16,  1825.  The  following  notice  of  Dr.  Crosby,  written  by  Prof. 
R.  D.  Mussey  of  Dartmouth  College,  is  taken  from  the  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journcd,  Vol.  XIV.  :  — 

"  Dr.  Asa  Crosby  was  an  uncommon  man.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  com- 
menced practice  in  Straffijrd  county,  N.  H.,  and  continued  in  full  practice  forty- 
six  years.  He  was  a  distinguished  member  of  the  profession,  both  in  physic  and 
surgery ;  and  in  the  latter  branch  he  performed  some  very  important  and  diffi- 
cult operations.  Indeed,  for  many  years  he  was  the  principal  operator  for  an 
extensive  district  of  country.  He  was  one  of  those  self-taught  men,  whose 
force  of  intellect  breaks  through  the  most  appalling  obstacles,  and  rises  unaided 
to  skill  and  reputation.  Although  deprived  of  a  systematic  course  of  professional 
instruction,  having  commenced  practice  before  medical  schools  were  established 
in  New  England,  he  provided  himself  with  a  good  library,  and  spent  his  leisure 
hours,  and  even  moments,  among  his  books.  He  drew  around  him  young  men  as 
pupils,  between  twenty  and  thirty  of  whom  may  be  reckoned  as  educated  by  him ; 
and,  what  is  much  to  his  credit,  many  of  them  are  now  distinguished  men. 

"  Dr.  (h'osby  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Church  of  C'hrist,  and 
died  in  the  full  hope  of  a  better  life. 

"  The  medical  profession  in  New  Hampshire  is  not  a  little  indebted  to  Dr. 
Crosby,  inasmuch  as  he  was  one  of  the  few  who  interested  themselves  in  procur- 
ing the  charter  of  the  >State  Medical  Society,  of  which  he  was  an  active  and 
zealous  member  for  thirty  years.  The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine 
was  conferred  on  him  by  Dartmouth  College  in  1811." 


244  DR.    ASA    CROSBY   AND    SONS. 


JOSIAH  CliOSBY,  M.  D. 

Dr.  Josiah  Crosbv,  third  son  of  Dr.  Asa  Crosby,  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
N.  H.,  February  1,  1794,  and  died  in  3Ianfliester,  N.  H.,  January  7,  1875.  He 
married  Olive  Light  Avery,  daughter  of  Daniel  Avery,  a  merchant  and  manu- 
facturer of  (jiilford,  N.  H.,  February  U.  1829.  He  studied  his  profession  with 
his  father,  and  the  distinguished  I'rof.  Nathan  Smith  of  Dartmouth  College. 
His  early  practice  was  in  Concord.  N.  H.,  and  Lowell,  Mass.,  but  his  professional 
life-work  was  in  Manchester.  N.  H,,  from  184-1  to  his  death.  The  following  ex- 
tracts are  taken  from  an  obituary  notice  of  him  read  before  the  New  Hampshire 
Medical  Society  by  Dr.  ^y .  W.  "Wilkins,  of  Manchester:  — 

"  Here  (Manchester,  N.  H.,)  for  thirty  years  he  was  the  unrivaled  head  of 
the  profession.  Here  he  originated  the  method  of  making  extensions  of  frac- 
tured limbs  by  the  use  of  adhesive  strips,  which  gave  him  a  high  reputation 
with  surgeons  in  Europe  as  well  as  at  honu'  ;  and,  later,  he  invented  the  '  invalid 
bed '  which  has  so  tenderly  held  the  patient,  without  a  strain  or  jar,  while  the 
bed-clothes  could  be  changed  or  wounds  cared  for.  or,  by  dro])ping  a  belt  or 
two,  jn-event  local  pressure  and  irritation.  The  skillful  physician,  the  christian 
gentleman,  and  sympathizing  frieiul  were  combinations  of  character  in  him 
rarely  excelled. 

"  Those  who  have  known  Dr.  Josiah  Crosby,  who  have  had  the  jtrivilege  of 
his  acquaintance,  been  honored  by  his  confidence,  and  felt  the  influence  of  his 
pure  example,  will  feel  more  deeply  than  any  words  of  mine  express,  the  loss  we 
have  met  in  his  death.  Few  men  love  their  life-work  as  he  did.  The  practice 
of  medicine  to  him  was  no  mere  trade,  no  secondary  means  of  obtaining  some- 
thing else  that  outranked  it,  but  the  chosen  calling  of  his  life,  to  which  in  his 
young  manhood  he  gave  not  only  his  rare  mental  endownu;nts,  but  the  rich 
treasures  of  his  heart  ;  and  with  the  weight  of  eighty  years  resting  upon  him, 
it  was  his  greatest  comfort  that  he  could  still  labor  in  his  chosen  jtrofession. 

"  His  habits  of  study,  that  had  been  early  formed,  followed  him  into  old  age. 
New  theories  and  discoveries  in  medical  science  were  carefully  criticised  ;  the 
medical  journals,  to  which  he  was  a  liberal  subsciber,  were  read  ;  and  he  was 
better  posted  in  regard  to  the  medical  literature  of  the  day  than  a  majority  of  the 
young  men  in  the  profession. 

"  He  exerted  a  strong  influence  on  the  profession  itself.  The  quiet  dignity  of 
his  character  was  felt  by  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  No  unguarded  words 
passed  his  lips  in  regard  to  members  of  the  ])rofession  that  were  absent  that 
would  not  have  been  as  freely  expressed  in  their  presence. 

"  The  same  elements  of  character  made  him  a  superior  surgeon.  His  opera- 
tions were  complete.  He  had  abundant  resources,  and,  if  the  ordinary  methods 
of  ^  treatment  failed,  was  ever  ready  to  supi)ly  their  place  by  extraordinary  methods. 
His  contributions  to  medical  science  were  of  a  character  that  reflected  the  highest 
honor  upon  him  as  a  physician  and  skillful  surgeon,  and  placed  him  in  no  mean 
rank  as  a  benefactor  of  his  race. 

"  He  never  indulged  in  sports,  or  frequented  watering-places.  His  church, 
his  home,  and  his  professional  duties  filled  to  the  full  his  days  and  years,  and  too 
many  sleepless  nights.  His  sympathies  for  the  sick,  his  great  benevolence,  his  love 
of  neighbor  as  of  himself,  formed  the  mainspring  of  his  life  labors. 

"  We  have  known  him  in  his  strength,  and  we  shall  always  recollect  him  as 
the  strong,  self-reliant,  active  physician.  We  are  more  than  grateful  for  his 
record.     Life  is  the  sum  total  of  so  many  days  and  years,  to  which  may  be  added 


DR.    ASA    CROSBY    AND    SONS.  245 

the  little  real  good  one  has  been  permitted  to  accomplish  in  a  lifetime.     Looking 
back  over  these  fifty  years,  can  we  compute  the  worth  of  such  a  life?" 

His  widow  still  lives,  as  also  his  son,  Dr.  George  A.  Crosby,  of  Manchester, 
an  eminent  physician  and  surgeon. 

JUDGE  NATHAN  CROSBY. 

Nathan  Crosby,  fourth  son  of  Dr.  Asa  Crosby,  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
N.  H.,  February  12,  1798  ;  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1820  ;  read 
law  with  Stephen  Moody,  Esq.,  of  Gilmanton,  and  Asa  Freeman,  of  Dover, 
N.  H.,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Strafford  county  in  1823.  He  practiced 
law  a  dozen  years,  mostly  in  Gilmanton,  N.  H.,  and  Amesbury  and  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  until  1838,  when  he  removed  to  Boston,  at  the  call  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Temperance  Union,  to  conduct  two  important  features  of  the  temperance 
cause,  —  the  acceptance  of  the  teetotal  pledge  for  the  ardent-spirits  pledge,  and 
prohibition  for  license,  and  to  organize  societies  based  upon  those  principles 
throughout  the  commonwealth.  He  was  also  editor  of  the  MassarJiusetfs  Tein- 
j)erance  Journal,  the  Cold  ^^atel■  Army  and  Temj^erance  Ahuanac,  and  various 
other  publications. 

Subsequently,  in  1843,  he  removed  to  Lowell,  and  was  employed  by  the 
manufacturing  companies  of  that  city  to  purchase  the  large  lakes  in  New  Hamp- 
shire whose  waters  supply  the  Merrimack  river,  and  secured  for  the  companies 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  water.  Before  this  service  was  fully  accom- 
plished, he  received  the  appointment  of  standing  justice  of  the  police  court  of 
Lowell,  upon  the  resignation  of  the  late  Hon.  Joseph  Locke,  who  had  held  the 
ofiice  thirteen  years.  Judge  Crosby  was  qualified  May  19,  1846.  This  position 
he  still  holds.  He  has  rarely  failed  of  holding  the  civil  terms  of  the  court 
during  his  entire  period  of  service.  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  a  local 
magistrate,  —  a  position  peculiarly  trying,  placed,  as  those  duties  are,  so  near 
the  people  in  all  their  differences,  controversies,  temptations,  follies,  and  depravi- 
ties.—  he  has  been  at  all  times  humane,  conscientious,  incorruptible,  and  just, 
aiming  to  do  right. 

In  all  works  of  philanthropy  and  reform,  no  one  has  a  kinder  heart,  or  a  more 
willing  or  generous  hand.  His  frequent  appeals  to  the  public,  through  the  press, 
upon  the  temperance  issues  of  the  day  have  been  characterized  by  great  power, 
earnestness,  and  practical  wisdom,  and  have  been  widely  read  and  approved.  He 
has  never  held  political  office,  but  has  been  in  the  ranks  of  the  Federal,  Whig, 
and  Republican  parties.  He  was  the  first  man  in  the  country  to  give  one  hun- 
dred dollars  for  the  sanitary  relief  of  Union  soldiers  in  the  late  rebellion,  and  to 
form  a  soldiers'  relief  association,  of  which  he  was  president  during  the  war. 
He  was  the  first  college  graduate  from  the  town  of  his  birth,  and  the  last  of  four 
of  his  class  who  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

His  literary  productions  consist  of  '■  Obituary  Notices  for  1857  and  1858," 
in  two  volumes,  ^'  First  Half  Century  of  Dartmouth  College,"  eulogies  upon 
Judge  Wilde  and  Hon.  Tappan  Wentworth,  "  Notices  of  Distinguished  Men  of 
Essex  County,  Mass.,"  the  last  being  especially  illustrative  of  Choa'te,  Cushing,  and 
Rantoul,  and  letters  and  appeals  to  the  citizens  of  Lowell  upon  the  temperance 
issues  of  1880  and  1881.  He  has  a  nervous,  but  animated  and  entertaining 
style.  His  "  First  Half  Century  of  Dartmouth  College"  is  a  model  in  its  way, 
while  his  "  Crosby  Family,"  a  genealogical  work,  is  not  the  dry  and  uninteresting 
reading  such  literatui-e  usually  is,  but  is  entertaining,  even  to  the  general  reader, 
for  its  reminiscences  of  individuals,  and  its  pleasant  pictures  of  old  times  in 
New  Hampshire. 


246  DK.    ASA    CROSBY    A^U    SONS. 

He  has  always  cherished  a  deep  interest  in  Dartmouth  Collefije,  and  to  no 
slight  extent  has,  by  personal  eiFort,  brought  about  events  which  have  been  of 
substantial  benefit  to  that  ancient  seat  of  learning. 

Judge  Crosby  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  Rebecca  Mar((uand 
Moody,  was  a  daughter  of  Stephen  Moody.  Esq.,  of  Gilmanton,  by  whom  he 
had  nine  children,  of  which  number  five  are  now  living,  namely,  Frances  Coffin, 
wife  of  Dr.  Henry  A.  Martin,  of  Boston ;  Hon.  Stephen  Moody  Crosby,  of 
Boston;  Maria  Stocker,  wife  of  the  late  Maj.  Alexander  McI).  Lyon,  of  P>ie, 
Penn. ;  Ellen  Grant,  wife  of  N.  G.  Xorcross,  Es((,.  of  Lowell,  and  Susan  Coffin, 
wife  of  Charles  Francis,  son  of  James  B.  Franc-is,  of  Lowell,  the  distinguished 
engineer.  His  daughter,  Bebecca  Mar({uand,  widow  of  the  late  Z.  B.  Caverly, 
United  States  charge  <V affaires  at  Peru,  a  highly  accomplished  and  widely  es- 
teemed lady,  was,  with  her  daughter,  lost  on  the  "  Schiller,"  a  German  steamer, 
oiF  the  English  coast,  in  the  spring  of  1875,  —  a  disaster  which,  at  the  time, 
created  profound  sorrow  throughout  the  country.  He  married,  May  19,  1870, 
Matilda,  daughter  of  James  Pickens,  of  Boston,  and  widow  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Fearing, 
of  Providence,  B.  I.,  who  still  lives. 

Personally,  the  judge  is  a  fine  exemplification  of  the  good  results  of  temper- 
ance, self-care,  and  habitual  good  humor;  and  one  meeting  him  for  the  first  time, 
and  noting  his  firm  step  and  erect  carriage,  would  hardly  think  him  older  than  a 
man  of  sixty. 

DIXI  CBOSBY,  M.  D. 

Dr.'  Dixi  Crosby,  fifth  son  of  Dr.  Asa  Crosby,  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
February  8,  1800,  and  died  at  Hanover,  September  2(j,  187H.  He  married 
Mary  Jane  Moody,  daughter  of  Stei)hen  Moody,  of  Gilmanton,  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  July  2,  1827.  His  academical  preparation  for  his  profession  was  quite 
limited ;  but  being  quick  to  learn,  and  with  uncommon  powers  of  memory,  he 
made  rapid  progress  in  the  study  and  practice  of  his  profession  and  early  became 
a  prominent  surgeon  and  physician,  practicing  in  (Hlmanton  and  I^aconia  till 
called  to  fill  the  chair  of  surgery  in  the  Dartmouth  Medical  College,  as  successor 
of  Professor  B.  D.  Muzzey.  He  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Medical  College, 
in  1838,  and  held  the  place  with  great  ability  and  distinction  until  nearly  the 
time  of  his  death. 

His  son,  Prof.  Alpheus  B.  Crosby,  a  young  man  of  remarkable  distinction, 
who  died  August  9,  1877,  succeeded  him.  Another  and  older  son  is  an  eminent 
physician  in  Concord,  N.  H. 

"  Dr.  Crosby,  though  a  surgeon  by  nature  and  by  preference,  was  in  no  modern 
sense  a  specialist.  His  professional  labors  covered  the  whole  range  of  medicine. 
His  professorship  included  obstetrics  as  well  as  surgery,  and  his  practice  in  this 
departhicnt  was  exceptionally  large.  His  surgical  diocese  extended  from  Lake 
Champlain  to  Boston.  Of  the  special  operations  of  Dr.  Crosby  we  do  not  pro- 
pose here  to  speak  in  detail.  It  is  sufficient  to  mention  that,  in  1824,  he  devised 
a  new  and  ingenious  mode  of  reducing  metacarpo-phalangeal  dislocation.  In 
1836  he  removed  the  arm,  scapula,  and  three-([uarters  of  the  clavicle,  at  a  single 
operation,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  surgery.  He  was  the  first  to  open 
abscess  of  the  hip-joint.  He  performed  his  operations  without  ever  having  seen 
them  performed,  almost  without  exception.  Dr.  Crosby  was  not  what  may  be 
called  a  rapid  operator.  "  An  operation,  gentlemen,"  he  often  said  to  his  clini- 
cal students,  "  is  sooii  enough  done  when  it  is  icell  enough  done."'  And  with 
him  it  was  never  done  otherwise  than  veil. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  Dr.  Crosby  served  in  the  provost-marshal's 


DR.    ASA    CROSBY   AND    SONS.  247 

office  at  a  great  sacrifice  for  many  months,  attending  to  his  practice  chiefly  at 
ni<'ht.  As  years  and  honors  accumulated,  Dr.  Crosby  still  continued  his  work, 
though  his  constitutional  vigor  was  impaired  by  the  severity  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire winters  and  by  his  unremitting  labor.  At  length,  having  reached  man's 
limit  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  he  withdrew  from  active  practice,  and  in  1870 
resigned  his  chair  in  the  college. 

Dr.  Crosby  furnishes  a  beautiful  and  rare  instance  of  a  completed  life.  He 
early  fixed  his  aim, —  he  reached  it ;  he  did  all  he  attempted,  and  he  did  it  well. 
'  Nihil  tetigit,  quod  non  ornavif.' 

To  those  of  us  who  had  been  most  intimately  associated  with  our  departed 
friend,  vvho  had  enjoyed  his  teachings,  his  counsels,  and  his  generous  kindness,  the 
news  of  his  death  came  as  a  heavy  shock.  But  he  still  lives  in  the  remembrance 
of  his  distinguished  services,  in  the  unfading  affection  and  gratitude  of  his  pupils, 
and  in  the  many  hearts  whose  burdens  he  has  lifted.  Verily,  '  Extinctus 
amahitur  idem  .' '  " —  Ohifnari/  notice  of  Dr.  J.    W.  Barsfoir. 

PROF.  ALPHEUS  CROSBY. 

Prof.  Alpheus  Crosbi',  ninth  son  of  Dr.  Asa  Crosby,  was  born  in  Sand- 
wich, October  i:^,  1810,  died  in  Salem,  Mass.,  April  17,  1874.  He  married  for 
his  first  wife,  Abigail  Grant  Jones  Cutler,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Abi  C.  Grant 
(Jones)  Cutler,  of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  August  27,  1834,  who  died  in  Paris, 
France,  March  25,  1887.  He  married,  for,  his  second  wife,  Martha  Kingman, 
dauo-hter  of  Joseph  Kingman,  Esq.,  of  West  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  a  teacher  in 
the  Normal  School,  Salem,  Mass.      He  was  childless. 

Professor'  Hagar  says:  "When  in  his  tenth  year  he  was  taken  to  Hanover, 
the  seat  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  was  placed  temporarily  under  Professor 
Adams  in  algebra  and  Euclid,  under  Professor  James  Marsh  in  Latin,  and  under 
Tutor  Rufus  Choate  in  Greek ;  and  these  gentlemen  pronounced  him  fitted  for 
college.  He  was  subsequently  put  to  the  study  of  Hebrew,  under  the  Rev.  John 
L.  Parkhurst,  and  was  sent  to  Exeter  Academy;  but  in  1828  he  entered  college, 
passed  through  the  four  years'  course  of  study  without  a  rival  and  far  beyond 
rivalry.     His  power  of  accjuisition  and  retention  was  marvelous. 

"After  his  graduation,  he  spent  four  years  at  Hanover;  the  first,  as  the  pre- 
ceptor of  Moor's  Indian  Charity  School,  and  the  following  three  as  tutor  in  the 
college.  He  subsequently  spent  nearly  two  years  at  the  Theological  Seminary 
in  Andover,  Mass.  He  was  appointed  to  a  professorship  of  Latin  and  Greek  in 
1833.  In  1847  he  was  released  from  the  Latin  and  became  professor  of  Greek 
only,  which  office  he  held  until  1849,  when  he  resigned;  but  he  remained  pro- 
fessor emeritus  until  his  deatli." 

Professor  Cro.sby  was  one  of  the  earliest  Greek  scholars  of  eminence  that 
New  England  can  boast,  being  precocious  in  his  scholarship,  and  so  a  little  in 
advance  of  Professor  Felton,  of  Cambridge,  who  was  a  year  or  two  older.  Both 
graduated  in  1827,  Felton  at  Harvard,  and  Crosby  at  Dartmouth  ;  and  this,  as 
it  happens,  was  the  year  in  which  the  first  Greek  lexicon,  with  definitions  in 
pjnglish,  came  into  the  hands  of  pupils  in  any  part  of  the  world.  It  was  the 
work  of  John  Pickering,  a  Salem  man,  who  for  many  years  stood  almost  alone 
as  a  great  Greek  scholar  in  America,  having  preceded  Crosby  and  Felton  by 
more  than  thirty  years.  The  young  men  took  up  the  work  where  Pickering- 
laid  it  down,  and  began  not  long  after  they  became  Greek  professors  in  their 
respective  colleges  (^Felton  in  1832,  and  Crosby  in  1833,)  the  task  of  preparing 


248  DK.    ASA    CROSBY    AND    SONS. 

grammars,  readers,  and  editions  of  authors,  for  the  studious  youth  of  the  land. 
Crosby's  Greek  grammar  and  his  edition  of  Xenophon's  Anabasis  soon  came 
into  common  use,  and  have  been  of  great  service  in  promoting  the  elementary 
instruction  of  thousands  of  Greek  scholars  since  ;  as  also  have  Felton's  Reader 
and  his  editions  of  Aristophanes,  etc.  The  learning  of  Hadley,  Goodwin,  and 
other  recent  professors  has  gone  beyond  that  of  these  pioneers  in  extent  and 
accuracy,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  have  done  so  much  for  rudimentary 
scholarship. 

Professor  Crosby  belonged  not  to  us  alone,  but  to  all  New  England, —  to  the 
whole  land.  Our  country  is  poorer  by  the  loss  of  an  eminent  scholar,  one  of 
that  small  band  of  classical  scholars  in  America  who  are  known  and  honored  at 
foreign  seats  of  learning.  In  the  latest,  freshest,  and  most  original  Greek  gram- 
mar of  Professor  Clyde,  of  Edinl)urgh,  the  author  acknowledges  his  oljligations 
to  four  distinguished  scholars,  three  Europeans  and  one  American;  and  the 
American  is  Professor  Crosby. 

Professor  Crosby  published  "A  Greek  and  General  (Jrammar";  "Greek 
Tables";  "Greek  Lessons";  an  edition  of  Xenophon's  Anabasis;  "  Ecloga' 
Latinae  "  ;  "  First  Lessons  in  Geometry  "  ;  also  many  religious  and  political  tracts, 
and  elementary  school-books,  which  have  been  widely  useful  among  the  freedmen 
and  Indians. 

PllOF.  THOMAS   II.  CKOSBV.  M.  I). 

Pruk.  Thomas  Rissell  Crosby,  M.  D.,  youngest  son  of  Dr.  Asa  Crosby, 
was  born  in  Gilmanton,  N.  IL,  October  22, 181(i,  and  died  at  Hanover,  March  1. 
1872.  He  married  Louisa  Partridge  Burton,  daughter  of  Col.  Oliver  Burton, 
U.  S.  A.  He  graduated  J).  C.  1841,  taking  also,  at  the  same  time,  his  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  practiced  in  Meriden  and  Manchester,  was  chief  sur- 
geon in  Columbian  College  Hospital,  in  Washington,  D.  C,  during  the  war, 
became  professor  in  the  Medical  College  in  that  city,  and  afterwards  professor  in 
Dartmouth  College.  During  much  of  his  professional  life  he  was  an  invalid, 
but  Avas  indefatigable  in  habits  of  study,  steadily  advancing  to  posts  of  honor 
and  reward,  both  as  practitioner  and  teacher. 

The  faculty  of  Dartmoutli  College  say :  "  We  would  record  with  deep  sorrow 
the  decease  of  Dr.  Thoiuas  li.  Crosby,  Professor  of  Animal  and  Vegetable 
Physiology  in  the  agricultural  department  of  the  college,  and  Instructor  in 
Natural  History  in  the  academical  and  scientific  departments ;  and  that  we 
have  a  profound  sense  of  the  loss  sustained  by  the  college  and  the  community  in 
the  departure  of  one  who,  to  all  the  virtues  that  adorned  his  character,  added 
such  fullness,  variety,  and  accuracy  of  scientific  and  professional  attainment  as 
fitted  him  for  signal  usefulness  in  the  several  positions  he  occupied."' 

His  brother  Josiah  bears  this  testimony  of  him  in  a  letter,  after  he  had 
passed  away:  "  I  have  always  considered  him  e((ual  to  any -of  the  brothers  as  a 
general  scholar,  and,  decidedly,  as  the  best  medical  scholar  of  us  doctors ;  and, 
although  he  had  not  an  opportunity  of  performing  so  much  surgery  outside  the 
hospital  as  others  of  the  family,  yet  what  he  did  shows  conclusively  that  he  was 
competent  to  any  emergency.  He  had  all  the  requisite  qualifications  for  a  good 
operator,  —  a  correct  knowledge  of  anatomy  and  great  self-possession." 


COL.  CHARLES  H.  SAWYER. 


BY    REV.    GEO.    B.    SPALDING,    D.   D. 


Charles  Henry  is  the  oldest  son  of  Jonathan  Sawyer,  the  sketch  of  whose 
life  precedes  this.  He  was  born  March  30,  1840,  at  Watertown,  N.  Y.  At  ten 
years  of  age,  on  the  removal  of  his  father  to  Dover,  N.  H.,  Charles,  who  had 
already  become  quite  advanced  in  his  studies,  was  sent  to  the  district  school  in 
that  place.  The  district  school,  although  it  has  been  supplanted  by  what  is 
regarded  as  an  improved  system  of  education,  had  its  own  distinctive  merits. 
The  six  years'  training  in  it,  under  competent  teachers,  was  sufficient  to  give 
young  Sawyer  a  thoroughly  practical  education  in  those  branches  which  are 
found  to  be  essential  to  success  in  business  life.  Books  can  do  little  more  than 
this.  Experience  must  complete  the  training  process.  At  sixteen  years  of  age, 
it  being  determined  that  Charles  was  to  enter  into  the  business  of  his  father,  he 
was  placed  as  an  apprentice  in  the  Sawyers'  woolen-mills.  The  business  to 
which  a  young  man  is  to  devote  his  life  afibrds  the  very  best  means  for  his  edu- 
cation in  it.  It  proved  to  be  so  in  this  instance.  The  young  apprentice,  as  he 
progressed  from  one  stage  to  another,  had  the  finest  of  opportunities  for  acquir- 
ing a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  diversified  interests  and  sciences  which  belong  to 
such  a  great  industry.  There  is  scarcely  a  branch  in  natural  philosophy,  physics, 
or  the  mechanical  arts  that  is  not  intimately  connected  with  the  manufacture  of 
woolens.  But  the  manufacturing  processes  embrace  only  a  part  of  the  activities 
and  rec|uirements  of  such  a  business  as  the  Sawyers.  They  are  their  own  buy- 
ers and  sellers  in  all  the  great  markets  of  our  own  and  other  lands.  Superadded 
to  mechanical  knowledge  and  skill,  there  must  be  the  large  intelligence,  the  clear 
foresight,  the  quick,  unerring  judgment,  which  belong  to  the  accomplished  finan- 
cier. In  this  manufactory,  based  upon  so  varied  knowledge,  and  calling  into 
activity  so  many  of  the  strong  mental  powers,  Charles  found  a  grand  school,  and 
such  proficiency  did  he  make  in  it,  that  when  he  came  to  his  manhood  he  was 
abundantly  qualified  to  take  upon  himself  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
superintendent.  He  was  appointed  to  this  position  in  1866.  No  small  share  of 
the  distinguished  success  which  has  come  to  this  establishment  may  be  fairly 
attributable  to  the  fidelity  and  perseverance  in  service,  the  keen  sagacity  and  the 
great  enterprise,  which  Charles  H.  Sawyer  has  brought  to  its  every  interest.  In 
1873,  when  the  company  became  incorporated,  he  was  admitted  to  the  firm,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  was  appointed  its  agent  and  one  of  the  directors.  Since  then 
he  has  been  elected  its  president. 

Mr.  Sawyer  has  served  in  both  branches  of  the  Dover  city  government ;  was 
a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  legislature  in  1869  and  1870,  and  again  in 
1876  and  1877,  serving  on  the  committee  on  railroads,  incorporations,  judiciary, 
national  aff'airs,  and  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  manufactures.  In  1881 
he  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Bell,  a  member  of  his  military  staff"  with  rank 
17 


250  COL.    CHARLES    H.    SAWYKE. 

of  colonel.  Mr.  Sawyer  is  now  actinfj:  as  director  of  the  Strafford  National 
Bank  and  the  Portsmouth  &  Dover  Railroad,  and  trustee  of  the  Strafford  Sav- 
ings Bank.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  taking  a  personal  interest  in 
all  that  concerns  its  prosperity.  In  LStiT  he  became  a  member  of  the  Strafford 
Lodge,  and  was  master  in  1872  and  187H.  He  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Paul 
Commandry  of  Knights  Templar,  of  which  he  has  just  been  elected  eminent 
commander  for  the  fourth  time. 

Mr.  Sawyer,  in  1865,  was  married  to  Susan  Ellen  Cowan,  daughter  of  Dr. 
James  W.  and  Elizabeth  Cowan. 

Mr.  Sawyer  is  not  only  a  man  of  affairs,  taking  a  deep  personal  interest  in 
the  various  movements  of  politics,  finance,  and  industrial  life,  but  he  is  a  man 
of  large  reading  and  is  well  acquainted  with  the  best  books  and  thoughts  of  the 
times.  His  judgments  of  men  and  measures  are  singularly  free  from  partiality 
and  prejudice.  His  conclusions  are  deliberately  formed,  and  based  upon  a  broad 
comprehension  of  all  the  related  facts.  His  sense  of  justice  is  strong ;  his  in- 
tellectual qualities  are  admirably  balanced.  He  never  is  otherwise  than  perfectly 
poised.  With  all  this  he  has  the  warmest  heart,  the  quickest  sympathies,  great 
kindness  of  manner,  and  utmost  geniality  of  spirit.  In  the  reserve  of  his  nature 
he  withholds  himself  from  all  impetuous  demonstrations;  but,  when  the  occasion 
demands,  his  influence,  his  advice,  his  friendship  are  put  forth  with  command- 
ing effect.  Nature  made  him  on  a  large  scale,  and  books  and  experience  and 
increasing  converse  with  the  best  phases  of  social  life  are  developing  him  into 
rare  strength  and  symmetry  of  character. 


GOV.  ANTHONY  COLBY. 


Anthony  Colby  is  known  in  his  native  state  as  a  typical  "New  Hamp- 
shire man."'  Born  and  bred  among  the  granite  hills,  he  seemed  assimilated  to 
them,  and  to  illustrate  in  his  noble,  cheerful  life  the  effects  of  their  companion- 
ship. His  groat  heart,  sparkling  wit,  fine  physical  vigor,  and  merry  laugh  made 
his  presence  a  joy  at  all  times,  and  welcome  everywhere.  His  ancestry,  on  his 
father's  side,  was  of  English,  and  on  his  mother's,  of  Scotch-Iri.sh,  orio-in.  The 
first  member  of  his  father's  family  that  removed  to  this  country  settled  in  the 
town  of  Salisbury,  Mass.,  in  1740.  He  bore  the  name  of  Anthony  Colby,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  so-called  "Test  Association." 

Joseph  Colby,  the  father  of  Anthony,  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  near 
Beech  Hill,  in  1762.  He  died  in  1843.  Of  his  brothers,  two,  James  and 
Nathaniel,  settled  in  that  town,  and  another,  David,  in  Manchester,  near  the  sea 
in  Massachusetts.  During  the  last  century,  Joseph  bought  a  portion  of  land 
under  the  "  Masonian  Grant"  from  Mr.  Minot.  Then  therestrictiou  of  owner- 
ship in  the  state  was  that  "all  the  white-pine  trees  be  reserved  for  mastin"-  the 
ships  of  His  Majesty's  royal  navy.'"  Each  town  was  required  to  set  apart  jTpor- 
tion  of  land  for  a  meeting-house,  and  the  support  of  the  gospel  ministry ;  for  a 
school-house  and  the  support  of  a  school,  as  well  as  a  military-parade  o-round. 

In  the  organization  and  settlement  of  the  town  named  New  London,  and  in 
the  needs  of  the  settlers,  both  civil  and  religious,  Joseph  took  an  active  part. 
He  began  clearing  land  in  that  part  of  the  town  now  called  Pleasant  street,  at 
the  north  end  of  Pleasant  pond.  He  early  established  trade  for  himself  with 
Newburyport  and  Salem.  The  state  legislature  then  held  its  sessions  in  Ports- 
mouth. Of  this,  he  was  for  fourteen  consecutive  years  a  member.  He  was  a 
political  leader,  and  an  uncompromising  Federalist.  For  fifty  years  he  was  a 
stanch  member  of  the  Baptist  church,  of  which  Bev.  Job  Searaans  was  the  first 
pastor,  and  he  was  for  some  time  president  of  the  Baptist  state  convention. 

He  married  Anne  Heath,  a  direct  descendant  of  the  Richard  Kelley  family, 
of  which  Judge  Kelley,  of  Exeter,  was  a  member.  Her  immediate  relatives 
took  part  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Members  of  the  family  live  in  Newbury, 
Mass.  The  family  of  Joseph  Colby  consisted  of  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  daughter,  Sarah,  married  Jonathan  Herrick;  the  second,  Judith, 
married  Perley  Burpee.  Both  of  these  daughters  were  settled  beside  him.  Mrs.' 
Burpee  still  survives.  The  two  sons  of  Joseph  Colby  never  left  their  father's 
household.  Joseph,  the  eldest,  spent  the  most  of  his  life  in  the  gratification  of 
his  literary  tastes,  and  a  species  of  journalism.  Anthony,  born  in  1795,  was  of 
a  lively  disposition.  A  pleasant  vein  of  humor  ran  through  his  character,  mak- 
ing him  enjoy  a  joke,  while  a  native  prescience  led  him  to  project  himself  into 
every  kind  of  progress.  A  keen  insight  into  the  character  of  men  gave  him  an 
almost  unlimited  influence  over  them.  He  never  passed  through  college,  but  his 
faculties  were  broadly  developed  by  the  condition  into  which  his  genial  and  vivid 
nature  led  him.      His  father's  home  was  so  guarded  and  in  every  way  provided 


252  CH)V.    AA^THONY    COLBY. 

for,  that  ample  opportunity  was  afforded  him  to  follow  the  pursuits  and  activities 
that  were  congenial  to  him.  He  married,  at  an  early  age.  3Iary  Everett,  whose 
modest  and  refined  Christian  character  greatly  influenced  him.  A  more  favored 
home  could  hardly  be  imagined  than  that  in  which  his  three  children  were  born, 
and  which  is  still"  lield  sacred  by  them.  The  steady  support  of  a  grandfather's 
established  character,  the  stimulus  of  a  popular  father,  joined  to  the  aftection  of 
a  divotod  grandmother  and  the  delicate  influence  of  a  lovely  mother,  created  an 
atmosphere  of  solid  content  and  peace  as  blissful  as  is  to  be  found  this  side  of 
heaven.  His  eldest  son,  Daniel  E.  Colby,  graduated  from  Dartmouth  (Allege  in 
1836.  He  married  Martha  (Ireenwood,  and  now  lives  in  the  paternal  home.  His 
dau<'hter  marri-jd,  in  1851,  James  B.  Colgate,  and  lives  in  New  Y'orlc,  as  does 
her  brother  Robert,  who  married  Mary  Colgate.  Robert  also  graduated  from 
Dartmouth  College,  and  studied  law  with  Judge  Perley,  at  (Joncord,  N.  H. 

Th9  prominent  characteristics  of  Anthony  Colby  were  manly  self-reliance  and 
intrepidity,  joined  with  quick  sympathy  and  faithfulness  in  friendship,  which 
made  men  trust  and  love  him.  His  father's  identity  with  the  state  gave  him  a 
wide  knowledgj  of  its  resources,  industries,  and  inhabitants.  He  was  interested 
in  the  aft'airs  of  the  entire  state,  and  was  always  ready  to  sacrifice  the  intcn-ests  of 
his  private  business  for  those  of  his  townsmen.  There  was  no  neighborhood  or 
personal  difficulty  in  which  he  did  not  willingly  take  the  responsibility  of  bring- 
ing help  or  recom^iliation.  His  tender  sympathy,  benevolence,  and  personal  au- 
thority were  suflicitnt  to  adjust  the  dift'erences  and  rights  of  all  who  sought  his 
assistance.  He  was  strictly  and  absolutely  a  temperance  man,  never  tasting  s]>irit- 
uous  liquors,  and  always  using  his  influence  to  save  young  men  from  the  use  of 
them.  His  nature  was  many-sided  enough  to  find  some  points  of  agreement 
with  men  whose  habits  differed  from  his  own. 

He  established  a  line  of  stages  through  his  native  town  before  any  system  of 
railroads  had  been  extended  through  the  state.  He  afterwards  became  president 
of  the  Concord  &  Claremont  Railroad.  He  possessed,  in  an  unusual  degree,  an 
ability  to  create  in  his  own  brain  and  carry  into  practice  business  activities.  He 
saw  and  felt  how  labor  could  be  well  applied,  and,  while  a  young  man,  built  him- 
self, in  a  part  of  the  town  then  almost  a  forest,  a  grist-mill,  carding  and  fulling 
mill.  In  1836  he  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a  scythe-factory  wliich  was 
carried  on  by  the  use  of  the  same  water  that  had  been  used  for  the  mills.  In  this 
enterprise  he  was  associated  with  Joseph  Phillips  and  Richard  Messer,  both  of 
whom  had  learned  the  trade  of  scythe-making.  In  the  vicinity  there  grew  up 
directly  a  flourishing  village. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Colby  was  always  conservative.  He  was  first  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Hampshire  legislature,  in  1828,  and  afterwards  held  nearly 
every  higher  office  of  trust  in  the  state.  Daniel  Webster  was  his  personal 
friend.  Their  fathers,  who  lived  in  the  same  county,  only  about  twenty  miles 
apart,  were  numy  years  associated  in  the  legislature,  of  which  they  were  mem- 
bers, from  Salisbury  and  New  London.  The  friendship  between  himself,  Judge 
Nesmith,  of  Franklin,  and  (jren.  James  Wilson,  of  Keene,  was  more  than  simple 
friend.sliip, —  they  were  delightlul  companions;  of  essentially  diflerent  character- 
istics, the  combination  was  perfect.  Daniel  Webster  was  their  political  chief, 
and  his  vacation  sometimes  found  these  men  together  at  the  Franklin  "  farm- 
house," and  at  the  chowder  parties  up  at  the  "pond."  The  Phenix  Hotel,  under 
the  charge  of  Col.  Abel  and  Maj.  Ephraim  Hutchins,  was  the  central  rendez- 
vous, where  a  great  deal  of  projected  statesmanship,  a  great  deal  of  story  telling 
and  fruitless  caucusing  were  indulged  in,  down  to  the  revolution  of  1846,  when 
the  Democrats  lost  their  supremacy  by  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  slave  state, 
when  John  P.   Hale  went  into  the  senate.     Anthony  Colby  was  then  elected 


GOV.    ANTHONY    COLBY.  253 

governor.  Mr.  Webster  wrote  him  earnest  congratulations.  With  the  usual 
backsets  of  a  radical  change,  the  Whig  party  held  the  front  until  Mr.  Webster 
made  his  Seventh-of-March  speech  in  1850,  on  the  fugitive-slave  bill.  Following 
up  that  speech  by  another  on  the  Revere-House  steps,  favoring  the  enforcement  of 
that  law,  and  addressed  to  New  England  men,  in  which  he  said,  "  Mas.*achusetts 
takes  no  steps  backward,"  he  placed  his  friends  in  a  most  trying  predicament. 

Mr.  Webster  and  his  Boston  body-guard  made  an  effort  to  hold  the  Whig 
party  solid  to  his  position.  It  could  not  be  done.  The  Abolitionists  stood  forth 
in  fill!  panoply,  indiscriminately  and  precipitately  aggressive,  thanking  God  for 
the  fugitive-slave  law,  and  that  Daniel  Webster  was  its  promoter  and  defender. 
He  wrote  to  Gov.  Colby,  urging  him  to  stand  firmly  by  him  and  help  bring  the 
public  mind  to  this  new  standard.  The  governor  was  perplexed.  Privately  he 
expressed  himself  after  this  fashion  :  "  New  Hampshire  men  vote  for  the  fugi- 
tive-slave law!  This  whole  business  is  like  crowding  a  hot  potato  down  a  man's 
throat,  and  then  asking  him  to  sing  'Old  Hundred.'"  He  wrote  Mr.  Webster 
that  he  would  do  all  that  he  could  for  him  as  a  friend,  although  the  law  was 
odious  to  him. 

There  was  held,  that  summer,  a  Baptist  state  convention.  It  was  a  full  con- 
vention, for  the  churches  were  in  a  ferment,  and  many  of  them  disintegrating 
upon  the  slavery  issue.  He  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from  the  church  of  which  he 
was  a  member.  A  set  of  resolutions  was  reported,  of  a  very  violent  and  denun- 
ciatory character,  directed  against  the  fugitive-slave  law,  Mr.  Webster,  and  both 
political  parties,  threatening  expulsion  and  disfellowship  to  those  members  of 
churches  who  did  not  come  out  with  an  open  and  square  protest  upon  this  subject. 
The  discussion  was  all  one  side  until  the  advocates  of  the  resolution  had  aired 
their  opinions  to  their  own  satisfaction.  Then  the  governor,  seeing  his  oppor- 
tunity, quietly  arose  and  moved  an  amendment  to  the  resolution  inveighing 
against  Mr.  Webster  personally.  He  felt  the  fight  to  be  a  single-handed  one,  and 
would  go  through  it  alone  if  necessary.  Presently,  a  candid  brother  seconded 
his  amendment  with  a  few  suggestions.  Other  brethren  applauded.  Then  the 
storm  set  in  from  the  other  side,  and  the  convention  became  disorderly.  It  was 
as  if  the  better  elements  of  New  England  life  were  in  one  grand  convocation.  This 
was  the  first  public  discussion  of  the  situation.  The  contest  was  as  brilliant  a 
one,  on  a  modified  scale,  as  any  intellectual  and  emotional  contest  that  we  read  of. 
The  governor's  only  hope  of  reconciliation  was  by  settling  down  on  his  own 
popidarity  with  the  members  of  the  convention,  and,  avoiding  the  principles  in- 
volved, appealing  to  their  generosity  as  a  personal  favor.  With  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  in  faltering,  grieving  tones,  he  besought  them  most  solemnly  to  spare  his 
life-long  friend  the  denunciation  contained  in  that  one  resolution,  and  accept  his 
amendment.  The  convention  agreed  to  it.  He  sent  a  report  of  the  proceedings, 
with  an  explanatory  letter,  to  Mr.  Webster;  but  he  was  not  satisfied.  There  the 
matter  dropped.  These  true-hearted  friends  saw,  silently,  the  scepter  of  leader- 
ship declining  in  Mr.  Webster's  hand,  and  sadly  lamented  what  they  could 
not  prevent. 

No  Whig  had  held  the  office  of  governor,  until  the  election  of  Anthony 
Colby,  since  the  election  of  Gov.  Bell,  an  interim  of  seventeen  years.  Gov. 
Colby  being  rallied  upon  his  one-term  office,  said  he  considered  his  administration 
the  most  remarkable  the  state  ever  had.  "Why  so?"  was  asked  ;  when  with 
assumed  gravity  he  answered:  "Because  I  have  satisfied  the pcoplr  in  one  i/ear, 
and  no  other  governor  ever  did  that." 

His  spirit  attached  him  to  military  life.  He  was  early  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  major-general.  This  experience  turned  to  his  account,  when,  during  the  try- 
ing years  of  our  late  war,  in  18(J1  he  was  appointed  adjutant-general,  and  subse- 


254  GOV.    ANTHONY    COLBY. 

quently  provost-marshal,  of  New  Hampshire.  At  this  time  his  son  Daniel  E.  Colby 
was  appointed  adjutant-general.  The  governor  always  alluded  to  this  service  as 
the  saddest  of  his  life,  — to  encourage  and  send  forth  to  almost  certain  death  the 
young  men  of  the  state  whom  he  loved  as  a  father.  This  was  his  last  promi- 
nent office  in  state  affairs ;  and  so  faithful  was  he  in  it.  that,  although  nearly 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  went  often  to  the  front  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
condition  of  the  soldiers  and  share  their  hardships  with  them. 

In  1850  ho  received  from  Dartmouth  (^)llege  the  degree  of  A.  M.,  and  the 
same  year  was  chosen  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  college.  He  was  interested  in  the 
best  possible  educational  advantages  of  the  young,  and  in  every  way  jjromoted 
them.  Through  his  energy,  in  a  great  degree,  the  academy  in  New  Ijondon  has 
arisen  to  its  present  flourishing  condition.  His  son-in-law,  James  B.  Colgate,  of 
New  York,  has  generously  endowed  it,  and  aided  in  placing  it  upon  a  solid  basis. 
The  trustees  have  conferred  upon  it  the  name  of  (^)ll)y  Academy. 

Grov.  Colby's  second  wife,  Eliza  jMesseiiger  Kichardsdn,  of  Boston,  by  her 
accomplishments  and  true  Cliristiati  character  euihellisli(Ml  mid  enlivened  his 
declining  years,  while  the  devotion  of  his  children  cheered  the  seclusion  of  his 
last  days. 

Said  an  illiterate  woman,  to  strangers  discussing  his  character  in  the  cars, 
"  Governor  Colby  carries  the  very  demon  of  honesty  in  his  face." 

It  was  his  unfailing  sense  of  duty  and  trust  in  (rod  that  won  for  him  the 
vast  respect  of  the  public,  and  esteem  of  a  large  circle  of  private  friends. 

Sunday  evening,  July  20,  1875,  he  died,  peacefully,  in  the  home  of  his 
father,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  his  native 
town,  by  the  side  of  his  parents. 


'^"^"-Tx 


:r 


US^  Si^rSU^J-^ 


4fmJim!L 


SECRETARY  WILLIAM  E.  CHANDLER. 


BY    HON.    JACOB    H.    ELA. 


William  E.  Chandler,  the  second  son  of  Nathan  S.  and  Mary  A. 
Chandler,  was  born  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  December  28,  1835,  and  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  city  and  the  academies  of  Thetford,  Vt.,  and  Pembroke, 
N.  H.  He  began  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  George  &  Webster  and 
(leorge  &  Foster  in  1852  ;  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Law  School  as  LL.  B. 
in  1855  ;  and  in  1856,  before  coming  of  age,  began  practicing  in  Concord  with 
Francis  B.  Peabody,  Esq.,  now  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Chandler  has,  from  early  childhood,  fulfilled  all  the  expectations  of  his 
friends.  At  the  Harvard  Law  School  he  was  librarian,  and  graduated  with  prize 
honors  for  an  essay  on  "  The  Introduction  of  the  Principles  of  Equity  Jurispru- 
dence into  the  Administration  of  the  Common  Law."  He  developed  an  early 
taste  for  polities,  and  a  desire  to  aid  in  philanthropic  movements.  He  delivered 
an  address,  in  1857,  before  the  Concord  Female  Benevolent  Association,  in  the 
Unitarian  church,  which  at  once  proved  him  a  clear  and  vigorous  writer  and 
thinker.  The  writer's  first  recollection  of  him  as  a  lawyer  was  in  the  manage- 
ment of  an  election  case  before  the  state  legislature,  for  the  Republicans  of 
Moultonborough,  when  it  seemed  imprudent  to  employ  one  almost  a  boy  to 
manage  a  case  such  as  was  generally  committed  to  lawyers  of  large  experience  ; 
but  the  result  justified  the  selection.  In  June,  1859,  he  was  appointed,  by  Gov. 
Ichabod  Goodwin,  law  reporter  of  the  New  Hampshire  supreme  court,  and  pub- 
lished five  volumes  of  the  reports.  He  entered  the  service  of  the  Republican 
party  with  great  earnestness  at  its  beginning,  in  185(3,  and  gave  much  of  his 
time  in  the  office  of  the  state  committee,  to  assist  the  movement  during  its  early 
campaigns,  becoming  secretary  first,  and  afterwards  chairman  in  1864  and  1865. 
The  election  of  1863  took  place  during  the  darkest  period  of  the  war,  following 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  when  gloom  and  almost  despair  overshadowed 
every  town  in  the  state.  It  was  evident  to  all  that  a  draft  was  impending,  and 
it  seemed  as  though  the  ability  of  the  towns  and  the  state  had  been  exhausted, 
and  no  more  money  could  be  raised  or  volunteers  be  found  to  enlist.  All  those 
opposed  to  the  war  were  united  and  active  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  were 
aided  by  those  Republicans  who  were  alarmed  by  the  burden  of  debt,  and  by 
those  who  would  compromise  the  safety  of  the  Union  sooner  than  expose  them- 
selves to  be  drafted  to  save  it.  It  was  the  most  important  political  campaign 
ever  conducted  in  the  state,  and  brought  the  executive  ability  of  Mr.  Chandler 
prominently  into  view,  and  led  to  his  future  advancement.  It  was  the  first  cam- 
paign in  which  a  woman  took  a  leading  part.  Miss  Anna  Dickinson  was  em- 
ployed as  one  of  the  speakers  in  the  canvass,  and  there  commenced  her  career  on 
the  platform.  She  had  before  often  spoken  in  anti-slavery  meetings.  President 
Lincoln  watched  this  campaign  more  closely,  probably,  than  any  other  outside 
his  own  state.     It  was  the  opening  election  of  the  year  following  a   depressing 


25(3  SECKETAKY    WILLIAM    E.    CHANDLEK. 

defeat,  and  he  felt  that  to  lose  it  at  such  a  critical  time  would  be  as  disastrous 
in  its  effects  upon  the  army  and  the  country  as  the  loss  of  a  great  battle.  It  was 
his  interest  in  this  election  which  first  brought  Mr.  Chandler  to  his  attention, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  noted  when,  in  the  Svw  Hampshire  llepublican 
state  convention,  in  1864,  Mr.  Chandler  offered  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  unanimously  and  by  acclamation  adopted  :  — 

''Resolved,  Thill  Abrahiini  Lincoln,  by  tin;  exercise,  iluring  the  severest  iuul  most  ilan- 
gerous  crisis  in  the  nation's  hi.story,  of  nne(iuiiled  .sagacity  and  statcsniansliiii,  and  that 
moderation  and  prndence  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  the  highest  wisdom;  by  his 
spotless  integrity  of  personal  character,  above  reproach  and  abov<;  suspicion ;  and  ))y  his 
slowly  formed  yet  unalterable  determination  that  the  triumph  of  the  constitution  and  the 
Union  over  secession  and  rebellifin  shall  be  the  final  triumph  of  liberty  throughout  the 
nation,— has  received  and  merited  the  abiding  confidence  of  the  people  to  an  extent  never 
awarded  any  other  public  man  since  Wasliington;  that  the  best  interests  of  the  country 
demand  tliat  the  comijlete  destruction  of  the  rebellion  and  the  restoration  of  peace,  pros- 
perity, and  tlie  Union,  should  be  achieved  under  his  administration  of  the  governmejit ;  and 
tliat  we  therefore  declare  Abraham  Lincoln  to  be  the  peo])le's  choice  for  re-el(!ction  to  the 
presidenej-  in  lS(i4." 

The  adoption  of  the  resolution,  and  the  conduct  of  the  canvass  in  the  spring 
of  18(14  on  the  basis  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  renomination,  resulted  in  a  very  large 
liepublican  majority;  and  Mr.  Chandler,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  1862,  and;  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  had  been  elected  speaker  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  in  1863,  was  again  chosen  speaker;  and  in  August, 
1864,  presided  over  the  legislature  in  which  occurred  the  eventful  conflict  and 
riotous  disturbances  over  the  veto  by  Governor  Gilmore  of  the  bill  allowing  sol- 
.  diers  in  the  field  the  light  to  vote.  Mr.  Chandler  gained  his  earliest  reputation  for 
persistency,  coolness,  and  moral  courage  in  this  celebrated  conflict,  so  well  remem- 
bered by  the  Republicans  of  the  state. 

In  November,  18(54,  he  was  employed  by  the  Navy  Department  as  special 
counsel  to  prosecute  the  Philadelphia  navy-yard  frauds,  and  on  March  9,  1865, 
was  appointed,  by  President  Lincoln,  the  first  solicitor  and  judge-advocate- 
general  of  that  department.  On  June  IT,  1865,  he  was  appointed  first  assistant 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  with  Secretary  Hugh  McCulloch,  and  held  the  office 
over  two  years,  resigning  November  30,  1867.  After  his  resignation,  he  prac- 
ticed law  in  New  Hampshire  and  in  Washington,  and  was  solicitor  of  the 
National  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  counsel  and  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
the  Washington-Market  Company,  and  engaged  in  some  mining  and  railroad 
enterprises. 

It  has  been  at  various  times  falsely  charged  that  Mr.  Chandler  received  large 
fees  for  prosecuting  cotton  claims  before  the  department  in  which  he  had  been 
an  officer.  This  charge  is  entirely  false^  He  has  never  prosecuted,  before  any 
forum,  any  such  claims,  and  the  following  letter  to  him,  written  at  a  time  when 
Hon.  George  G.  Fogg  made  such  charges  against  him,  proves  the  correctness  of 
his  conduct :  — 

\\'ASiiiNGT()N,  1).  C,  Januai-y  -J.i,  IS(iS. 
Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  — 

MY  Deak  Sir  :  —  It  has  been  stated  in  public  prints  and  otherwise,  in  a  form  tlesigncd  to 
injure  me,  that  since  leaving  the  Treasury  Department  I  have  taken  employment  against 
the  government  as  agent  or  attorney  for  cotton  claims. 

As  you  know  tliat  such  statements  are  false,  I  desire  tliat  you  will  be  kind  enough  to 
inform  me  in  writing  of  tlie  understanding  tliat  exists  as  to  my  relation  to  such  cases. 

Very  truly  yours, 

WM.   E.    CHAKDLEK. 


SECRETARY    WILLIAM    E.    CHANDLER.  257 

Treasury  Departmknt,  January  28, 1868. 

DEAR  Sir:— Your  favor  of  the  iSth  instant  is  receivetl.  It  was  arranged  between  us, 
■oefore  you  resigned  your  office  of  Assistant  Secretary,  tliat  you  were  not  to  act  as  counsel  or 
otherwise  against  the  government  in  relation  to  cotton  chiinis,  either  at  tliis  department  or 
before  the  court  of  claims.  The  arrangement  was  entirely  vohintary  on  your  part,  and  was 
considered  prudent  and  judicious  in  view  of  your  connection  with  this  class  of  claims  in 
the  department.  I  regarded  it  as  a  very  honorable  one  as  far  as  you  were  concerned,  as  it 
was  unaccompanied  by  any  retainer  or  employment  of  yourself  as  counsel  for  the  govern- 
ment in  such  cases,  and  was  witliout  any  assurance  on  my  part,  or,  as  I  supposed,  any 
expectation  on  yours,  tliat  you  should  be  so  employed. 

The  understanding  has  not  been,  so  far  as  I  am  advised,  directly  or  indirectly,  violated 
by  von.  Very  truly  yours, 

HUGH   MCCULLOCH,  Secretary. 

HON.  Wm.  E.  Chandi^er,  Washington,  1).  c:. 

Mr.  Chandler  did  not  keep  out  of  politics,  but  was  elected  as  a  delegate-at- 
large  from  New  Hampshire  to  the  national  convention  of  1868,  and  subsequently 
was  chosen  secretary  of  the  national  committee.  He  held  this  position  during 
President  Grant's  administrations,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  successful  conduct 
of  the  campaigns  of  1868  and  1872.  In  1876  he  declined  tooccupy  the  posi- 
tion longer,  but  still  contributed  much  of  his  time  to  assist  in  the  conduct  of 
the  canvass.  He  had,  during  this  time,  become  the  owner  of  the  largest  interest 
in  the  Neio  Hampshire  Statesman  and  the  Monitor,  the  leading  weekly  and  daily 
Republican  papers  in-  the  state,  at  Concord,  and  he  was  elected,  in  November,  a 
member  from  Concord  to  the  constitutional  convention  which  amended  the 
constitution  of  the  state. 

After  voting  in  Concord  at  the  presidential  election  in  1876,  Mr.  Chandler 
left  for  Washington,  reaching  the  Fifth-Avenue  Hotel,  New  York,  in  the  early 
hours  of  the  morning.  The  other  managers  of  the  national  campaign  had 
retired  for  the  night',  believing  they  were  defeated  ;  but,  coincident  with  Mr. 
Chandler's  arrival,"  news  reached  the  committee-rooms  that  Oregon  had  been 
carried  by  the  llepublicans,  which  would  elect  Hayes  and  Wheeler  by  one  vote. 
Mr.  Chandler  at  once  comprehended  the  situation  and  the  points  of  danger,  and, 
without  waiting  for  consultation,  sent  dispatches  warning  against  defeat  by  fraud, 
to  Oregon,  Florida,  South  Carolina,  and  Louisiana.  At  the  urgent^  solicitation 
of  prominent  members  of  the  party,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  start  immediately 
for  Florida,  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  Republican  party.  He  there  became 
counsel  for  the  Hayes  electors  before  the  canvassing  board  of  the  state,  and  it  is 
universally  admitted,  by  Republicans  and  Democrats  alike,  that  to  him  more  than 
to  any  other  man  is  due  the  preservation  to  the  Republicans  of  the  fruits  of  their 
victory  in  that  state.  When  the  contest  was  transferred  from  the  states  to 
congress,  and,  finally,  before  the  electoral  commission  chosen  to  arbitrate  and 
decide  who  had  been  elected  president,  Mr.  Chandler  acted  as  counsel,  and 
assisted  in  preparing  the  case  as  presented  to  the  commission. 

In  the  report  of  the  special  committee  sent  by  the  senate  to  investigate  the 
election  in  Florida,  made  January  29,  1877,  by  Senator  Sargent,  of  California, 
is  contained  a  full  statement  of  what  the  committee  considered  to  be  the  law 
with  reference  to  the  conclusiveness  of  the  declaration  by  a  state  canvassing 
board  of  the  vote  of  the  state  for  presidential  electors,  which  was  the  earliest 
formal  exposition  of  the  principles  of  law  which  were  finally  adopted  by  the  com- 
mission. The  authorship  of  this  statement  is  freely  attributed  by  Mr.  Sargent 
to  Mr.  Chandler,  and  the  points,  briefly  stated,  are  as  follows :  — 

I.  Tlie  canvassing  board  was  creatcil  by  competent  legislative  authority,  with  jurisdic- 
tion to  ascertain,  declare,  and  certify,  in  due  form,  the  result  of  the  election,  and  in  this  case 
it  did  certify  that  the  Hayes  electors  had  been  chosen  by  nine  hundred  and  thirty  majority. 


258  SECKETAKY    WILLIAM    E.    CHANDLER. 

This  declaration,  having  been  made  by  a  tribunal  lia\-lng  unquestioned  jurisdiction  over 
the  subject-matter,  is  conclusive,  and  it  has  not  been  and  cannot  be  reviewed,  revised,  or 
reversed,  by  any  power  anywhere  existing. 

II.  It  cannot  be  reversed  by  any  authority  proceeding  from  the  state  of  Florida.  It 
cannot  be  reversed  by  a  recanvass  of  the  votes. 

III.  As  the  decision  of  the  canvassing  board,  that  the  Hayes  electors  were  chosen,  cannot 
be  reversed  by  a  recanvass,  neither  can  the  title  of  the  electors  be  impaired  upon  pro- 
ceedings of  quo  warranto. 

IV.  If  the  declaration  of  the  result  of  the  election  of  presidential  electors  in  Florida, 
made  by  the  state  tribunal  authorized  by  the  legislature  to  make  such  declaration,  cannot 
be  reversed  by  any  authority  proceeding  from  the  state  of  Florida,  neither  can  it  be  re- 
versed bj- congi-ess.  The  constitutional  provision,  section  1,  article  2,  is,  "  That  each  state 
shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  shall  direct,  a  number  of  electors 
equal,"  etc.  It  is  not  pretended  by  any  one  tliat  the  president  of  the  senate,  or  congress,  in 
counting  the  electoral  vote,  can  do  more  than  merely  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  electors 
have  been  appointed  within  each  stare  in  the  manner  pi-escribed  l)y  the  legislature  thereof; 
and  in  the  present  case,  if  congress  sliall  find  that  the  result  t)f  the  late  election  was  ascer- 
tained and  declaretl  by  the  pi-ojier  ti'ibunal,  created  for  that  i)uri)Ose  and  authorized  by  tlie 
legislature  to  make  the  tlechuatiou,  tliat  declaration  and  decision  by  such  tribunal  having 
jurisdiction  over  the  subject-matter  is  final  and  conclusive  upon  congress,  and  cannot  be 
reviewed,  revised,  or  reversed.  It  does  appear  that  the  canvassing  board  of  the  state  of 
Florida,  duly  authorized  by  the  legislature,  canvassed  the  result  of  the  election,  and  de- 
clared and  certified  that  the  Hayes  electors  were  chosen,  which  result  appearing  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  state,  he  issued  certificates  to  the  electors  so  declartid  chosen,  and  thej'  pro- 
ceeded to  perform  their  functions.  Beyond  this  authorized  decision  and  declaration  of  the 
proper  state  tribunal,  it  is  respectfully  submitted  that  neither  the  president  of  the  senate 
nor  congress  can  go. 

V.  In  stating  this  doctrine,  that  neither  the  jiresident  t)f  the  senate  nor  eongj'ess  has  the 
right,  in  counting  the  electoral  vote  from  anj-  stat(s  to  go  beyond  the  decision  of  that  tribu- 
nal authorized  by  the  state  legislature  to  ascertain  and  declare  the  result  of  the  vote  of  the 
people  ot  the  state  for  electors,  it  is  not  meant  to  assert  that  the  president  of  the  senate,  or 
congi-ess,  cannot  go  behind  the  mere  ministerial  certificate  of  the  governor.  It  is  the  duty  of 
the  executive  to  give  a  certificate  to  the  electors  chosen  in  the  manner  the  legislature  may 
have  appointed,  and  declared  to  be  so  chosen  by  the  tribunal  authorized  by  the  legislature 
to  make  such  declaration.  But  if  the  governor  is,  by  the  state  statute,  not  a  member  of  such 
tribunal,  his  certificate  is  as  purely  ministerial  as  that  of  the  clerk  of  a  court  certifying  a 
copy  of  a  judgment.  It  is  a  valid  certificate  if  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  facts  appearing 
upon  the  record.  It  is  utterly  invalid  and  worthless  if  contrary  to  those  facts.  Therefore 
the  president  of  the  senate,  or  congress,  in  canvassing  the  electoral  votes,  even  ministe- 
rially, and  with  no  authority  to  go  beyond  the  declaration  of  the  election  made  by  the  state 
tribunal  authorized  to  decide  the  result  of  the  election,  may  look  bej-ond  the  mere  ministe- 
rial certificate  of  the  executive,  who  has  been  authorized  to  decide  nothing,  and  whose  cer- 
tificate is  of  no  value  or  binding  force  unless  correctly  and  truthfully  issued  in  accordance 
with  the  legally  declared  election.  This  distinction,  which  enables  the  president  of  the 
senate,  or  congress,  to  go  behind  the  mere  ministerial  certificate  of  the  governor  of  the  state, 
but  yet  prohibits  them  from  going  behind  the  declaration  as  to  the  result  of  the  election 
duly  made  by  the  proper  state  tribunal  authorized  to  make  such  declaration,  although  tech- 
nical, is  as  clear  and  distinct,  and  founded  ui:)on  principles  of  law  as  sound  and  wise,  as 
those  which  allow  any  tribunal  to  go  behind  a  clerk's  merely  ministerial  certificate  purport- 
ingto  verify  the  result  of  a  verdict  or  judgment  in  coui-t,  without  allowing  it  to  go  beyond 
the  true  record  of  the  verdict  or  judgment  itself. 

After  Mr.  Hayes  had  been  by  the  commission  declared  elected  president, 
when  his  administration  surrendered  the  state  governments  of  South  Carolina  and 
Louisiana  into  tlie  hands  of  the  Democratic  claimants,  ^Ir.  Chandler  vigorotxsly 
opposed  it,  and  criticised  the  surrender  and  the  men  connected  with  it  in  most 
scathing  terms,  in  letters  published  in  the  winter  of  1877-78.  His  fidelity  to 
his  convictions  of  duty  was  conspicuous  ;  and  his  courage  and  boldness  in  attack- 
ing the  Hayes  administration  gave  him  a  lasting  hold  upon  the  confidence  of 
the  country. 


SECRETARY    WILLIAM    E.    CHANDLER.  259 

In  1880  he  was  elected  at  the  head  of  tlie  tieket  of  Bhiine  delegates  from 
New  Hampshire  to  the  Chicago  convention,  and  was  especially  active  in  the  con- 
tests in  the  national  committee  prior  to  the  convention,  and  as  a  member  of  the 
committee  on  credentials,  of  which  Senator  Conger  was  chairman,  and  which 
made  the  successful  report  in  favor  of  district  representation.  The  following  is 
an  extract  from  the  report  of  the  committee  on  credentials  :  — ■ 

Tins  loiiK  current  of  precedents,  and  tiiis  universal  custom  of  the  past,  most  conclu- 
sively establish  the  right  of  congressional  district  representation.  It  is  a  question  of  sub- 
stance and  not  of  form.  Whether  the  delegates  have  come  certified  from  separate  district 
conventions,  or  whether  they  have  come  from  a  state  con\ention  where  the  district  mem- 
bers thereof  have  selected  their  district  representatives,  and  formally  reported  them  to  the 
state  convention,  and  their  election  has  been  certified,  for  brevity  and  convenience,  only  by 
the  ofticers  of  the  state  convention,  district  representation  in  fact  has  always  been  allowed. 
The  right  of  the  congressional. disti-ict  to  two  members  residing  within  it  and  repi-esenting 
its  sentiments,  has  been  treated  as  sacred,  and  your  committee  do  not  betieve  that  it  should 
be  now  for  the  first  time  invaded  with  tlie  approval  of  a  national  convention. 

Not  only  does  the  call  for  the  convention,  and  the  practice  and  precedents  of  the  party, 
in  one  unbroken  line,  indicate  and  secure  the  right  of  single  district  representation,  but 
every  consideration  of  the  reason  of  the  practice  tends  to  confirm  its  wisdom.  The  purpose 
to  be  secured  in  nominating  a  President  is  the  selection  of  a  candidate  the  most  likely  to  be 
accepted  by  the  people;  and  the  nearer  we  get  to  the  popular  feeling,  in  the  manner  of  se- 
lecting delegates,  the  wiser  and  safer  will  be  our  nominations.  If  a  state  convention  called 
to  choose  delegates  to  a  national  convention  can,  by  a  bare  majority,  over -rule  the  choices 
of  the  congressional  districts  and  select  delegates  residing  within  the  districts  who  do  not 
represent  its  sentiments,  they  might  as  well  be  allowed  to  select  all  the  delegates  from  one 
congressional  district.  Residence  within  a  district,  coupled  with  misrepresentation  of  its 
sentiments,  is  a  mockery.  The  delegates  thus  selected  bj'  a  state  convention  will  not  fairly 
represent  the  masses  of  the  Republicans  of  the  state,  but  frequently  will  misrepresent  them. 
Nominations  made  by  conventions  of  such  delegates  will  not  be  so  likely  to  be  ratified  at 
the  polls;  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  convention  emphati- 
cally to  disapprove  these  attempts  to  over-ride  time-honored  customs  of  the  party,  and  to 
vindicate  the  right  of  evei-y  congressional  district  to  be  represented  in  a  national  convention 
by  two  delegates  of  its  own  selection,  and  expressing  its  own  sentiments. 

When  his  favorite  candidate  was  withdrawn  in  the  convention,  he  supported 
General  Garfield,  and  during  the  campaign  which  resulted  in  his  election  was  a 
member  of  the  national  committee  and  served  on  the  executive  committee. 

On  March  28,  1881,  he  was  nominated,  by  President  G-arfield,  as  solicitor- 
general  in  the  Department  of  Justice ;  but  his  confirmation  was  opposed  by 
Attorney-General  MacVeagh,  and  also  by  all  the  Democratic  senators,  on  account 
of  his  extreme  radicalism  on  the  southern  question.  The  Republicans,  with 
Vice-President  Arthur's  vote,  would  have  had  one  majority  ;  but  the  whole  Dem- 
ocratic vote,  the  absence  of  the  New  York  senators,  the  abstention  of  Senator 
Mitchell,  and  the  adverse  vote  of  Senator  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  caused  his 
rejection,  on  May  20,  by  five  majority. 

Mr.  Chandler  had  been,  in  November,  1880,  elected  a  member  from  Concord 
in  the  state  legislature,  which  assembled  in  June,  1881,  and  he  took  a  leading  po- 
sition. He  favored  stringent  legislation  against  bribery  at  elections,  and  against 
the  issuing  of  free  passes  by  railroads,  and  was  in  favor  of  controlling  by  law 
the  regulation  of  freight  and  fares  upon  all  railroads  within  the  state.  After 
the  close  of  the  session  of  the  legislature,  when  consolidation  was  eifected  be- 
tween certain  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  railroads  without  the  consent 
of  the  proper  authorities,  and  against  the  law,  he  contended  against  their  ac- 
tion in  the  courts,  in  the  press,  and  in  all  legitimate  ways.  Its  success  would 
have  placed  the  whole  railroad  interest  in  the  lines  running  through  the  center 
of  the  state  and  their  branches  under  the  control  of  Massachusetts  capital  and 


260  8ECRETAKV    WILLIAM    E.    CIIANl^LEK. 

Massachusetts  corporations.  His  legal  positions  have  been  sustained  by  the  court, 
and  the  custody  and  control  of  the  roads  ordered  to  be  taken  and  exercised  by 
their  rightful  owners. 

The  latest  honor  conferred  upon  jMr.  Chandler  was  his  selection  by  President 
Arthur  as  a  member  of  his  cabinet.  He  was  nominated,  April  7.  1882,  for  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  and  confirmed  April  12,  by  a  vote  of  twenty-eight  to  sixteen  ; 
he  qualified  and  took  possession  of  the  office,  April  17,  1882. 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  a  busy  and  useful  life,  I  must  add  a  few  words  appre- 
ciative of  the  charaeter  of  one  whom  as  a  boy  and  man  I  have  known  for  forty 
years.  In  his  personal  habits  Mr.  Chandler  is  above  reproach, —  pure  in  speech 
as  in  action, —  with  a  mind  (juick  to  perceive,  prompt  to  execute,  and  com})re- 
Viensive  in  its  scope.  He  is  a  man  with  convictions  and  the  courage  to  express 
and  maintain  them.  He  has  never  sought  advancement  by  flattery  or  pandering 
to  prejudice.  Those  who  know  him  best  have  the  most  faith  in  his  integrity. 
The  best  evidence  of  it  is  the  fact  that  in  twenty-five  years  of  aggressive  politi- 
cal life,  while  occupying  positions  of  temptation,  and  criticising  freely  the  action 
of  men  who  forgot  their  moral  obligations  or  were  shirking  their  official  duties 
to  the  detriment  of  the  public  good,  no  one  of  them  has  been  able  to  connect 
him  with  personal  dishonesty,  corrupt  practice  in  official  life,  or  political  treach- 
ery or  double-dealing.  His  methods  are  direct,  positive,  systematic,  exact,  and 
logical.  The  positions  he  has  held  have  all  come  to  him  in  recognition  of  his 
at)ility  and  earnest  efibrts  in  serving  the  cause  he  espouses. 

Mr.  Chandler  has  been  twice  married,  —  in  1850,  to  a  daughter  of  Gov. 
Joseph  A.  Gilmore,  and  in  1874,  to  a  daughter  of  Hon.  John  P.  Hale.  He  has 
three  sons, —  Joseph  Gilmore,  born  in  18(i(l;  William  Dwight,  in  18G3;  and  Lloyd 
Horwitz,  in  18(59.  Mr.  Chandler's  father  died  in  1802.  His  mother  is  still 
living  in  Concord.  He  has  two  brothers, —  John  K.  Chandler,  formerly  a  mer- 
chant in  Boston  and  the  East  Indies,  now  residing  on  a  farm  in  Canterbury, 
N.  H. ;  and  George  H.  Chandler,  who  was  £rst  adjutant  and  afterwards  major  of 
the  Ninth  New  Hampshire  regiment,  and  is  now  a  lawyer  in  Baltimore.  Mr. 
Chandler's  father  was  a  Whig,  a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  firmness  of  char- 
acter. His  mother  is  a  WT)man  of  equally  positive  traits,  and  has  contributed 
much  to  the  formation  .of  the  character  which  has  given  success  to  her  sons. 


A/lOyrl^ 


HON.  WILLIAM  C.  CLARKE. 


Among  the  public  men  of  New  Hampshire  wlio  have  lately  passed  away, 
none  was  more  widely  known  in  the  state,  or  more  sincerely  respected,  than 
Hon.  William  Cogswell  Cl.\rke,  of  Manchester.  He  was  born  in  Atkin- 
son. N.  H.,  December  10,  1810.  being  the  eldest  son  of  Greenleaf  and  Julia 
( Coaswell)  Clarke.  His  father  was  a  farmer  and  master-mason,  the  constructor  of 
many  fine  businass  buildings  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  and  a 
highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Atkinson,  where  he  served  as  selectman  and  justice 
of'^the  peace.  He  was  descended  from  Nathaniel  Clarke,  a  merchant  of  New- 
bury, Mass.,  who  died  in  1690,  and  from  Capt.  Edmund  Greenleaf,  of  that 
place,  an  officer  of  repute  in  the  wars  of  the  early  colonists  with  the  Indians. 
The  wife  of  Greenleaf  Clarke  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William  Cogswell,  of 
Atkinson,  who  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  at  one  time  chief 
of  the  31ilitary  Hospital  at  West  Point. 

William  C  Clarke  pursued  his  early  studies  at  Atkinson  Academy,  of  which 
his  maternal  grandfather  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  then  entered  Dartmouth 
College,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  He  was  graduated  with  high  honors  in  the 
class  of  1832,  which  included  Professors  Noyes  and  Sanborn,  of  Dartmouth,  and 
the  late  Samuel  H.  Taylor,  LL.  D.,  the  noted  instructor  at  Andover,  Mass.  Im- 
mediately becoming  principal  of  Gilmanton  Academy,  he  held  the  position  for 
one  year,  while  beginning  the  study  of  law.  He  continued  his  legal  studies  in 
the  Harvard  Law  School,  in  the  office  of  Stephen  Moody,  at  Gilmanton,  and  in 
that  of  Stephen  C.  Ly ford,  at  Meredith  Bridge,  now  Laconia,  N.  H.  On  his 
admission  to  the  bar,  in  18BG,  he  began  practice  in  the  latter  town,  and  on  the 
creation  of  Belknap  county,  at  the  close  of  IS-tO,  he  was  appointed  county 
solicitor.  He  held  this  position  until  the  spring  of  1844.  when  he  removed  to 
Manchester,  and  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Two  years  later  he 
was  one  of  a  committee  of  seven  chosen  by  the  town  to  petition  the  legislature 
for  a  city  charter,  and  at  the  first  city  election,  in  August,  1846,  was  the  Dem- 
ocratic candidate  for  mayor.  There  being  two  other  candidates,  there  was  no 
choice,  and  he  withdrew  his  name  before  the  second  ballot,  in  September.  In 
the  same  year,  however,  he  consented  to  act  as  chief  engineer  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment of  the  young  city,  and  he  retained  this  position  till  the  close  of  1848, 
having  a  number  of  leading  citizens  as  his  assistants. 

In  1849  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  city  solicitor,  which  he  held  for  two 
years,  and  in  1850  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  state  constitutional  convention. 
Appointed  the  judge  of  probate  for  Hillsborough  county  in  1851,  he  obtained 
the  judicial  title  which  clung  to  him  thereafter.  In  1854  he  was  again  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  mayor,  but  the  'Whig  ticket  was  successful.  A  year 
later  Judge  Clarke  was  tendered,  by  Governor  Metcalf,  an  appointment  to  the 
bench  of  the  supreme  court,  but  declined  the  position.  As  judge  of  probate 
he  discharged  his  duties  with  high  public  approval,  but  his  removal  from  this 
office,  in  1856,  was  included  in  the  sweeping  political  changes  which  began  in 


262  HON.    WILLIAM    C.    CLARKE. 

1855.  In  1858  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  Manchester  Board  of  Aldermen. 
Soon  after  the  death  of  the  Hon.  John  Sullivan,  he  was  appointed,  in  1863,  to 
succeed  him  as  attorney-general  of  the  state  ;  and,  receiving  a  re-appointment  in 
1868,  he  continued  to  till  the  office  until  his  death  in  1872. 

From  the  time  of  his  admission  to  the  bar  until  he  became  the  chief  prose- 
cuting officer  of  the  state,  Judge  Clarke  was  actively  engaged  in  private  legal 
practice.  He  early  ac<{uired  the  reputation  of  a  sound  and  able  lawyer,  and 
obtained  an  e.xten.sive  clientage.  As  attorney-general  he  was  highly  successful 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  to  which  he  devoted  himself  with  conscientious 
faithfulness.  Recognizing  the  semi-judicial  character  of  his  office,  he  did  not 
allow  the  zeal  of  the  advocate  to  outweigh  more  important  considerations,  and,  in 
cases  where  a  minor  ofiense  had  been  committed  for  the  first  time,  he  fre((uently 
caused  indictments  to  be  suspended,  so  as  to  give  the  culprit  both  a  chance  and  a 
stimulus  to  reform.  Hardened  or  flagrant  criminals  he  pursued  with  the  rigor 
demanded  bv  the  interests  of  justice,  leaving  no  stone  unturned  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  their  "conviction.  He  drew  all  his  indictments  with  the  greatest  care,  and 
it  is  said  that  no  one  of  the  number  was  ever  set  aside.  He  took  e(jual  pains 
with  the  preparation  of  evidence  and  of  his  arguments  in  all  important  causes. 
These  cases  included  a  number  of  murder  trials  which  attracted  wide  attention 
when  in  progress,  and  which  afforded  marked  proof  of  his  legal  skill.  His  sense 
of  duty  being  above  all  other  considerations,  he  was  unmoved  by  all  attempts  to 
affect  his  official  course  by  private  appeals  or  by  any  species  of  personal  influence. 
Judo-e  Clarke  had  a  marked  distaste  for  ordinary  politics  and  the  arts  of  the 
politician.  On  the  few  occasions  when  he  consented  to  be  a  candidate  for  an 
elective  office  he  did  not  seek  the  nomination,  but  accepted  it  at  the  request  of 
his  friends.  Firmly  believing,  however,  in  the  original  principles  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  he  often  gave  his  voice  and  pen  to  their  support,  and  was  long  a 
prominent  member  of  that  party  in  New  Hampshire.  When  the  rebellion  broke 
out  he  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  in  regard  to  his  political  course,  but  was  among 
the  foremost  of  those  who  urged  all  citizens  to  sink  minor  party  differences  and 
rally  to  sustain  the  imperiled  government.  During  this  crisis  he  was  active  in 
calling  and  addressing  many  public  meetings,  which  pledged  aid  to  the  most  vig- 
orous measures  for  the  defense  of  the  Union.  At  the  great  war  mass-meeting 
held  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1863, —  which  was  attended  by 
thirty  thousand  people,  from  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  was  addressed  by  men  of 
national  eminence,  including  a  member  of  President  Lincoln's  cabinet,  —  Judge 
Clarke  called  the  assembly  to  order,  and  read  the  call,  after  which  he  was  chosen 
the  first  vice-president.  Being  dissatisfied  with  the  attitude  toward  the  war 
assumed  by  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party,  he  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  oriianizing  the  zealous  War  Democrats  of  the  state  into  a  third,  or 
"Union,"  party,  which  nominated  a  separate  ticket  for  state  officers  in  1862  and 
1863.  This  organization  was  not  maintained  after  the  latter  year,  and  Judge 
Clarke  thenceforward  voted  with  the  Republican  party;  but,  after  the  early 
years  of  the  war,  he  refrained  from  any  active  participation  in  politics,  which  he 
regarded  as  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  his  duties  as  attorney-general. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  Manchester  Bank,  serving  from 
1845  till  1849,  and  of  the  City  Bank,  with  which  he  was  connected  from  1853 
till  1863.  He  was  also  a  trustee  of  the  Manchester  Savings  Bank  from  1852 
until  his  death.  For  many  years  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  Manchester  Atheneum, 
and  when  this  was  succeeded  by  the  City  Library,  in  1854,  he  was  chosen  a 
member  and  clerk  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  latter  institution,  retaining 
both  positions  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  the  first  treasurer  of  the 
Manchester  &  Lawrence  Railroad  Company,  holding  that  office  from  July  31, 


IIO?r.    WILLIAM    C.    CLAI^KE.  263 

1847  till  his  resignation  took  effect,  February  8,  1849  ;  and  he  was  the  clerk  of 
that  company  from  February  28,  1854,  until  he  died,  being  also  its  attorney 
when  engaged  in  private  legal  practice.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Gilmanton  Acad- 
emy, and'^in  1854  was  a  member  of  the  National  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  ^    ,     t.       ,  ,•  n 

Jud'^e  Clarke  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  1^  ranklin-street  Con- 
gregational church  in  Manchester,  and  one  of  the  original  officers  of  the  society, 
to  both  of  which  he  rendered  valuable  service. 

Some  mention  of  his  personal  appearance  should  not  be  omitted,  as  he  was  a 
man  of  unusually  distinguished  presence,  having  a  large,  finely  proportioned 
fitnire,  with  a  handsome,  dignified  head  and  face.  Without  undue  formality,  his 
m^anners  were  invariably  courteous  and  refined.  With  excellent  literary  tastes, 
he  possessed  much  general  information,  and  was  very  attractive  in  conversation. 
Though  rigid  in  his'sense  of  right  and  wrong,  he  was  eminently  charitable  in  his 
views  of  others,  having  a  broad  tolerance  of  opinions  which  differed  from  his 
own.     His  disposition  was  genial,  and  his  kindness  of  heart  unfailing. 

He  was  married,  in  1834,  to  Anna  Maria  Grreeley,  only  daughter  of  tke  late 
Stephen  L.  Greeley,  Esq.,  of  Gilmanton,  N.  H.  His  wife  survives  him,  with 
four  children, —  Stephen  Greeley,  Anna  Norton,  Julia  Cogswell,  and  Greenleaf. 

The  death  of  Judge  Clarke  occurred  at  his  home  in  Manchester  on  April 
25,  1872,  and  was  the  cause  of  wide-spread  sorrow.  At  his  funeral  there  was  a 
lar'o-e  attendance  of  prominent  citizens  from  many  parts  of  the  state.  Resolu- 
tions of  regret  and  eulogy  were  adopted  by  the  city  bar,  the  Hillsborough-county 
bar,  the  M^anchester  Common  Council,  and  various  other  bodies  with  which  he 
had  been  connected.  In  the  resolutions  of  the  common  council  he  was  spoken 
of  as  "  one  who,  as  a  former  member  of  the  city  government,  and  its  legal 
pubUc  adviser,  served  it  with  marked  fidelity  and  ability,  and  who,  by  his  many 
virtues,  had  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens."  His  asso- 
ciates of  the  Manchester  bar  declared  that  "  he  was  a  faithful  officer,  a  wise 
counselor,  a  respected  citizen,  and  a  Christian  gentleman.  He  was  courteous  in 
manner,  efficient  in  duty,  upright  in  character,  and  an  ornament  to  his  profes- 
sion." In  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  bar  of  Hillsborough  county,  and 
entered  upon  the  records  of  the  supreme  court,  Judge  Clarke  was  described  as 
"  a  public  officer  faithful  and  upright,  discharging  his  official  duties  with  signal 
ability  ;  a  lawyer  of  large  experience  in  his  profession,  of  well  balanced  judg- 
ment and  discretion,  welt  read  in  the  principles  of  the  law,  and  faithful  alike  to 
the  court  and  his  client ;  a  citizen  patriotic  and  public-spirited  ;  in  his  private 
relations,  a  gentleman  of  unblemished  reputation,  distinguished  for  his  high- 
toned  character,  affable  manners,  and  uniform  courtesy ;  and  illustrating  in  his 
public  and  private  life  the  character  of  a  Christian  gentleman,  governed  by  the 
principles  which  he  was  not  ashamed  to  profess." 


HON.  ARCHIBALD  HARRIS  DUNLAP. 


BY    REV.    \V.    R.    COCHRANK. 


Mr.  Dknlap  comes  of  strong,  sturdy,  Presbyterian  stock  and  Scotch  ances- 
try, of  which  he  is  a  characteristic  and  worthy  rejiresentative. 

Archibald  Dunlap  came  from  the  Scotch  settleuient  in  Ireland  and  located  in 
Chester,  N.  II.,  in  1740,  or  a  little  earlier.  He  married  Martlia  Neal,  whom  he 
found  in  Chester.  She  was  of  Scotch  race,  and  her  father,  Joseph  Neal,  was 
among  the  Presbyterians  that  petitioned  the  legislature,  in  1730,  to  be  freed  from 
paying  a  second  tax  to  support  a  Congregation  id  minister.  The  third  child  oi 
Archibald  was  Maj.  John  J)unlap  of  Ilevolutionary  memory.  Maj.  Jolin  was 
born  in  (^hester  in  174();  married  Martha  (iilmore;  settled  in  Bedford;  was  a 
farmer  on  a  large  scale;  was  a  manufacturer  of  furniture;  and  acquired  a  large 
property.  He  was  a  famous  military  man  in  his  day;  and  on  one  occasion  enter- 
tained his  entire  regiment  at  his  house,  at  his  own  expense.  One  of  the  inci- 
dents of  the  day  was  the  rolling  out  of  a  barrel  of  N^ew  England  rum  and  setting- 
it  on  end,  staving  in  the  head,  and  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to  help  themselves 
to  their  heart's  content. 

John  Dunlap,  son  of  Maj.  John,  went  to  Antrim  when  a  young  man,  and 
built  at  the  North  Branch  village  in  that  town.  He  married  Jennie,  daughter 
of  Dea.  Jonathan  Nesmith,  of  Antrim.  June  20,  1807.  He  carried  on  the  cab- 
inet-making business  at  the  Branch  village  many  years.  About  the  year  1812 
he  introduced  the  manufacture  of  ladies'  and  gentlemen's  knit  underclothing, 
and  made  looms  I'or  that  purpose ;  and  it  was  probably  the  first  thing  of  the  kind 
(!ver  known  in  this  state,  and  was  considered  a  great  curiosity.  In  1835,  Mr. 
Dunlap  put  up  a  factory  in  South  Antrim,  —  now  known  as  the  "silk-factory." 
He  died  December  15,  1869,  in  ripe  old  age. 

Hon.  Archibald  Harris  Dunlap,  son  of  John  and  Jennie  (Nesmith) 
Dunlap,  was  born  in  North  Branch  village,  Antrim,  September  2,  1817.  He 
passed  through  the  usual  routine  of  country  boys  in  that  day, — hard  work  the 
year  round,  except  a  few  weeks  at  school  in  the  winter.  April  8.  1831,  in  com- 
pany with  his  oldest  brother,  the  late  Robert  N.  Dunlap,  of  Zanesville,  0.,  he 
left  Antrim  to  strike  out  in  the  world  for  himself.  With  a  small  bundle  of 
effects  in  one  hand  and  a  pilgrim's  staff  in  the  other,  these  two  boys  started  out 
in  the  dim  light  of  the  early  morning  for  a  journey  on  foot  to  Nashua,  —  nearly 
thirty-five  miles.  "  Harris,"  as  every  one  then  called  him,  was  only  thirteen  and 
one  half  years  old  when  he  thus  turned  his  back  upon  his  pleasant  cottage  home 
and  faced  the  battle,  come  as  it  might.  This  shows  the  stuff  he  was  made  of. 
The  Scotch  grit  and  zeal  and  powers  of  endurance  were  manifest  in  that  first 
journey.  Painters  and  poets  have  dwelt  upon  subjects  far  less  worthy  of  remem- 
brance than  that  boy's  march  of  thirty-five  miles,  inspired  only  by  the  determi- 
nation to  succeed  in  spite  of  poverty  and  toil. 


HON.    AKCIIIBALD    HARRIS    DUN  LAP,  265 

As  the  weary  liours  of  the  forenoon  wore  iiway,  and  they  began  to  feel  the  • 
strain  upon  their  physical  strength,  the  boys  consulted  togetlier  as  they  walked, 
as  to  what  refreshments  they  could  afford.  The  arguments  of  the  occasion  are 
not  handed  down  ;  but  it  was  decided,  considering  the  low  state  of  the  treasury, 
that  a  "  gfasfi  of  hrandy  apiece  woidd  do  the  mmf  good  for  the  moneys  (The 
temperance  reform  had  not  reached  the  people  then  !)  So  at  the  next  tavern, 
just  above  Mont  Vernon,  they  called  for  the  brandy,  —  which  was  brought  out 
in  one  (/loss,  —  and  they  divided  it  as  fairly  as  they  could.  Then  they  passed  on 
to  Amherst,  and  taking  a  little  solid  refreshment,  such  as  a  country  store  ordina- 
rily affords,  irif/oxif  brandy,  and  spending  an  hour  for  rest,  then  they  started  on 
the  eleven  dreary  miles  that  lay  between  that  place  and  Nashua.  The  younger 
boy  said  he  "thought  the  last  live  miles  never  iroidd  come  to  an  end;"  l)utthey 
did  end.  and  Nashua  was  reached  late  in  the  afternoon.  I  have  heard  Mr. 
Dunlap  say,  that,  however  many  better  and  wiser  boys  may  have  reached  that 
city,  certainly  a  more  tired  one  never  did  than  he!  Saturday,  April  !>,  his  first 
day  in  Nashua  in  which  he  was  to  be  so  prominent,  he  spent  in  looking  over  the 
place.  On  the  Sabbath,  having  been  brought  up  to  go  to  meeting  and  to  the 
Sabbath-school,  he  attended  Mr.  Nott's  church,  of  which  he  had  heard  in  An- 
trim. He  was  turned  into  a  side  gallery  with  a  lot  of  boys ;  but  the  solemnity 
of  years  was  upon  him  as  he  looked  on  that  large,  strange  audience  on  his  first 
Sabbath  of  absence  from  home.  The  impression  made  upon  him  will  never  be 
foro'otten.  That  day  he  cast  his  anchor  in  with  that  people,  and  it  has  held  ever 
since.  The  strange  country  boy  that  looked  and  listened  with  so  much  feeling 
that  day  is  now,  after  fifty  years,  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  that  church, 
while  nearly  all  the  vast  audience  he  looked  upon  have  passed  away  !  The  poor 
boy  reached  the  highest  place  !  He  early  become  a  member  of  the  church ;  was 
deacon  in  the  Olive-street  church  from  1855  till  its  recent  union  with  the  Pearl- 
street  church ;  was  then  chosen  deacon  in  the  united  or  Pilgrim  church  ;  and 
was  chairman  of  their  building  committee  in  the  erection  of  the  new  and  stately 
edifice  of  1881. 

About  that  time  (1831)  "Nashua  N'illage"'  had  begun  to  attract  attention. 
The  Nashua  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  Indian  Head  Company  were  com- 
pleting cotton-mills.  In  one  of  those  erected  by  the  latter  company.  Col.  William 
Boardman  was  setting  up  the  heavy  machinery  ;  and  for  him  the  boy  of  whom 
we  write  went  to  work  for  his  hoard  until  he  could  do  better.  The  colonel  gave 
him  'his  dinner,  and  that  was  the  price  of  his  first  half-day's  work  in  Nashua. 
But  that  afternoon  (Monday,  April  !<•,)  Ziba  Gay,  Es<p,  manufacturer  of  ma- 
chinery, sent  for  him  and  engaged  him  for  the  summer.  The  boy  of  thirteen 
years,  and  stranger  to  all,  had  found  a  place  in  the  great  uuichine-shop  !  Here 
he  staid  till  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  when  he  left  to  enter  Franklin  Academy, 
under  Prof.  Benjamin  M.  Tyler.  Eemaining  at  this  institution  till  the  spring  of 
1832,  he  returned  to  Nashua  and  entered  the  service  of  the  Nashua  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  where  he  continued  till  the  fall  of  1834.  Then,  being  disabled 
from  active  labor  by  an  accident,  he  left,  and  entered  Francestown  Academy, 
under  charge  of  l*rof.  Benj.  F.  Wallace.  At  the  close  of  the  fall  term  he  went 
home  to  his  native  town  and  attended  the  winter  district  school,  taught  by  Ed- 
ward L.  Vose,  Es([.  Here,  in  a  small  unpainted  school-house  on  the  southward 
slope  of  "Meeting-house  Hill,"  he  "graduated"  in  the  early  spring  of  1835. 
Whether  the  "graduating  exercises"  were  of  a  "high  order"  the  record  does 
not  say ;  but  certainly  they  Avere  as  rich  with  promise  as  some  of  greater  sound 
and  name.  And  now.  after  all  this  varied  and  often  rough  experience,  A.  H. 
Dunlap  was  only  seventeen  years  old  !  Large  in  body,  sound  in  mind,  fearless, 
18 


266  HON.    ARCHIBALD    HAERTS    DUNLAP. 

independent,  upright,  and  tested  l»y  hard  discipline,  he  was  just  the  man  to  suc- 
ceed. At  once  he  returned  to  Nashua  and  resumed  his  phice  in  the  mills  of  the 
Nashua  company,  where  he  remained  three  years.  Then  at  the  age  of"  twenty  he 
was  made  an  overseer  in  the  Indian  Head  mills.  In  this  business  he  remained 
till  the  spring  of  1847,  when  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  it  on  account  of  fail- 
ing health.  Then  he  was  in  trade  two  years  in  Franklin,  N.  II.  Then  (1849) 
he  returned  to  Nashua  and  comuu'nced  the  garden-seed  business,  in  which  he  has 
been  very  successful,  and  which  he  still  continues  under  tlic  firm  name  of  A.  H. 
Dunlap  &  Sons.     "  Dunlap's  Garden  Seeds"  are  known  all  over  the  land. 

Mr.  Dunlap  has  had  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Nashua,  as  shown  by 
the  many  trusts  committed  to  him,  and  the  offices  he  has  held  in  the  city  govern- 
ment. He  was  a  representative  from  Nashua  in  the  legislature  of  the  state  two 
years,  186!)  and  1870.  In  1858  he  was  elected  railroad  commissioner  for  three 
years.  In  1804  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  presidential  electors  for  New  Hanij)- 
shire,  and  had  the  honor  of  casting  one  of  the  electoral  votes  for  that  great  and 
good  man,  Abraham  Lincoln,  whom  all  men  now  have  learned  to  love  and  honor. 
He  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Nashua  &  Rochester  Railroad,  and  is  a  trustee 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Banking  Company. 

He  has  always  cherished  a  deep  interest  in  his  native  town,  and  his  address 
at  her  centennial  celebration,  in  1877,  was  among  the  best  of  the  many  abh? 
efforts  on  that  occasion.  He  aided  nobly,  both  by  investigation  and  by  gifts  of 
money,  in  preparing  the  recently  published  History  of  Antrim. 

Mr.  Dunlap  married  Lucy  Jane  Fogg,  of  Kxeter,  August  12,  1841.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Josiah  Fogg,  of  Raymond,  and  grand-daughter  of  Maj.  Josiah 
Fogg,  who  came  from  Hampton  and  settled,  in  1752,  in  that  part  of  Chester  set 
off"  as  the  town  of  Raymond  in  1764.  Maj.  Fogg  was  prominent  in  Chester 
before  the  separation;  and  paid  the  highest  "parish  and  state  and  war  tax"  in 
Raymond  in  1777.  The  Fogg  family  is  traced  back  in  England  and  Wales  to 
the  year  1112  A.  D.  The  first  of  the  name  in  this  country  was  Samuel  Fogg, 
who  came  to  Hampton  in  1638. 

The  children  of  Hon.  A.  H.  and  Lucy  J.  (Fogg)  Dunlap  are  James  H., 
Greorgie  A.,  John  F.,  Abbie  J.,  and  Charles  H. 


HON.  ALBERT  M.  SHAW. 


BV    A.    W.    BAKER. 


Albert  M.  Shaw,  of  Lebanon,  is  a  native  of  Poland,  Me.,  born  May  3, 
1819.  He  came  to,  and  has  spent  most  of  his  active  life  in.  New  Hampshire, 
where  a  wide  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  energy  and  abilities  was  open  to  him. 
His  parents,  Francis  and  Olive  (Garland)  Shaw,  had  four  children,  —  three  sons 
and  a  daughter.  — of  whom  Albert  M.  is  the  oldest. 

Mr.  Shaw's  father  was  a  successful  merchant,  able  and  willing  to  give  his 
children  the  advantages  of  a  fair  education,  and  such  special  training  as  would  fit 
them  for  callings  towards  which  their  proclivities  and  natural  abilities  inclined 
them.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  Albert,  having  acquired  such  an  education  as 
could  be  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  state,  went  to  Boston  and 
spent  nearly  two  years  in  the  study  of  civil  engineering  and  practical  work  for 
building  railroads.  He  had  made  such  progress  that  he  was  engaged  to  assist 
in  the  construction  of  a  branch  railroad  from  the  Boston  &  Providence  road  to 
Stoughton.  a  distance  of  about  six  miles,  and  executed  this  assignment  so  well 
that  he  was  made  superintendent  of  the  work  of  constructing  a  branch  railroad 
from  Natick  to  Framingham.  and  afterwards  was  engaged  in  the  construction  of 
the  Old  Colony  road,  which  occupied  him  until  1845. 

Previous  to  this,  preparation  had  been  made  to  build  the  Northern  Railroad 
from  Concord  to  West  Lebanon.  He  came  to  New  Hampshire  in  1845,  and 
engaged  in  the  building  of  the  road,  and  remained  on  the  road  until  the  entire 
line  was  completed.  With  this  road  he  has  been  closely  identified  nearly  ever 
since.  For  eighteen  years  he  was  its  civil  engineer  and  road-master;  and  during 
the  entire  time  that  the  late  ex-Governor  Stearns  was  its  president  was  his  trusted 
and  confidential  adviser  and  executive  officer.  He  has  also  served  in  its  board  of 
directors,  and  superintended  the  construction  of  its  principal  branches,  including 
the  Sugar  River  and  Peterborough  &:  Hillsborough  roads. 

The  activity  of  Mr.  Shaw  has,  however,  been  by  no  means  satisfied  with  his 
duties  upon  the  Northern  road.  Since  1848  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  Kennebec  &  Portland  road  in  Maine,  the  Portsmouth  road  in  this 
state,  the  air-line  road  from  Rochester  to  Syracuse  in  New  York,  and  that  from 
Waterloo  to  Huntington  mines  in  Canada,  besides  the  building  of  the  Granite 
hoisery-mills  at  Franklin,  and  the  carrying  to  a  successful  conc-lusion  many  pri- 
vate enterprises  for  himself  and  others.  In  1872  he  was  called  to  the  important 
position  of  superintendent  of  road-way  of  the  Central  Vt.,  and  its  branches. 

While  building  the  Northern  road  he  became  acquainted  with  Caroline  Dear- 
born Emery,  of  Andover,  whom  he  married  in  1848,  and  soon  after  located  his 
home  in  the  beautiful  village  of  Lebanon,  where  he  still  resides  with  his  wife 
and  two  sons.  William  F.,  and  Albert  0..  who  are  engaged  in  business  near  by. 
His  only  daughter,  Mary  Estelle,  died  in  1870. 


268  HON.    ALBEIIT    M.    SHAW. 

The  same  qualities  which  have  made  Mr.  Shaw  successful  in  business  have 
given  him  prominence  in  social  and  political  life.  He  has  always  taken  frreat 
pride  in  Lebanon,  and  has  been  a  leader  in  most  of  the  projects  which  have 
added  to  her  beauty  and  stability.  His  support  has,  from  the  first,  helped  estab- 
lish her  schools,  strengthen  her  churches,  and  sustain  her  social  and  charitable 
associations,  and  his  enterprise  has  contributed  largely  to  her  material  prosperity. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Shaw  is  a  Republican  who  works  hard,  manages  shrewdly, 
and  gives  liberally,  that  his  party  may  win.  He  doesn't  like  to  be  beaten,  and  sel- 
dom is.  He  has  done  much  for  his  neighltors  and  friends,  and  they  have  lost  no 
opportunity  to  h(mor  him.  In  the  stormy  days  of  18(32  and  18GH,  when  strong 
men  were  needed,  he  was  sent  to  the  popular  branch  of  the  state  legislature,  to 
which  he  was  returned  in  1881.  In  1868  he  was  sent  by  the  governor  to  look 
after  the  interests  of  New  Hampshire  soldiers  on  that  ever  memorable  field  of 
Gettysburg,  a  duty  for  which  his  warm  sympathies  and  his  executive  ability 
eminently  fitted  him.  In  187()  he  represented  Lebanon  in  the  con.stitutional 
convention,  and  in  1878  and  187i>  was  the  state  senator  from  that  district.  He 
was  appointed  a  consul  to  the  province  of  Quebec  by  President  Lincoln  in  1864, 
was  a  presidential  elector  in  1808,  and  in  1877  was  one  of  the  three  commission- 
ers appointed  by  Gov.  Prcscott  to  build  the  new  state-prison.  In  all  of  these 
positions,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  jtublic  affairs,  his  tact  in  dealing  with  men, 
and  his  skill  and  courage  in  overcoming  opposition  have  enabled  him  to  acquit 
himself  with  great  credit,  and  render  those  for  whom  he  acted  most  valuable 
service.  The  prison,  which  is  one  of  the  few  public  buildings,  in  this  country 
that  cost  less  than  the  estimates,  is  a  monument  to  his  business  capacity  and 
strict  integrity. 

He  is  a  great  reader  on  scientific  matters,  is  interested  in  books  of  travel  and 
adventure,  especially  in  those  relating  to  the  arctic  regions,  and  gratifies  his  taste 
in  the  collection  of  a  library. 

Mr.  Shaw  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  takes  an  interest  in  the  mystic  art. 
He  attends  the  Methodist  church,  and  is  a  liberal  contributor  to  all  that  pertains 
to  the  success  of  that  society.  The  worthy  poor  find  in  him  a  sympathizing- 
friend,  always  prepared  to  contribute  to  their  necessities  in  a  most  liberal  manner. 
He  is  good  to  himself,  and  true  and  generous  to  his  friends.  Mr.  Shaw  is  fond 
of  hunting  and  fishing,  loves  the  woods  and  streams  for  their  own  sakes,  as  well 
as  for  the  relief  and  rest  they  aff"ord  him ;  amid  the  busy  employments  of  his 
life  some  part  of  the  season  is  pretty  sure  to  find  him  "  camped  "  in  the  wilds  of 
northern  New  Hampshire  or  Maine. 

Mr.  Shaw  has  many  ac(juaintances  among  the  prominent  men  of  the  day.  As 
a  companion  he  is  lively,  genial,  fond  of  fun,  relishes  a  joke  at  the  expense  of 
others,  and  can  take  one  at  his  own  expense  with  becoming  meekness,  if  it  will 
not  be  otherwise  spoiled. 

He  is  at  present  engaged  in  caring  for  the  large  property  interests  which  have 
resulted  from  so  long  a  term  of  skillful  industry  and  sagacious  calculation. 


COL.  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  MARTIN. 


Benjamin  F.  Martin,  who  has .  been  proniinently  identified  with  the 
paper-making  industry  of  New  England  for  many  years,  and  is  widely  known  as 
one  of  Manchester's  wealthy  and  influential  citizens,  is  the  son  of  a  A'ermont 
farmer.'  His  parents  were  Truman  and  Mary  (Noyes)  Martin,  whose  home- 
stead was  at  Peacham,  where  thev  resided  with  their  five  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. Their  son  Benjamin  Franklin  was  born  July  21,  1813,  and  passed  his 
youth  at  home,  attending  the  short  district  schools,  and  filling  the  long  vacations 
with  farm  work  and  the  few  recreations  that  were  then  open  to  farmers'  boys. 
He  also  had  the  advantage  of  some  instruction  at  the  Peacham  Academy,  and 
when  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  eighteen  was  thought  to  be  sufficiently  educated 
in  books  to  begin  a  business  career,  to  which  he  was  naturally  inclined.  He 
accordingly  went  to  Meredith  Bridge,  now  Laconia,  to  learn  paper-making  in 
a  mill  owned  by  an  older  brother.  He  spent  one  year  in  this  mill,  and  then  next 
served  as  a  journeyman  in  one  at  Millbury,  Mass.,  where  he  acciuired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  business.  Mr.  Martin  then  formed  a  partnership  with  a 
brother-in-law,  the  late  Thomas  Rice,  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  at  Newton 
Lower  Falls,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  1844,  when  he  removed  to  Middle- 
ton,  Mass.,  and  purchased  a  mill  there,  which  he  successfully  operated  for  nine 
years.  In  1853  he  had  arranged  to  locate  in  Lawrence,  Mass.,  but  the  induce- 
ments off"ered  him  to  go  to  Manchester  were  sufficient  to  change  his  plans,  and 
he  at  once  commenced  the  erection  of  a  mill  at  Amoskeag  Falls.  This  was  soon 
completed,  and  in  it  Mr.  Martin  carried  on  for  twelve  years  an  extensive  and 
profitable  business.  In  1865  he  sold  it  to  Hudson  Keeney,  but  four  years  later 
repurchased  it,  and  continued  to  operate  it  until  1874,  when  he  sold  the  estab- 
lishment to  John  Hoyt  &  Co.,  and  retired  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  well  directed 
industry  and  sagacity. 

The  demands  of  his  business  have  left  Mr.  Martin  little  time  for  office- 
holding  ;  but  in  1857  and  1858  he  represented  ward  three  in  the  common  council, 
and  in^l860  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen.  In  1803  and  18G4  he 
was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  and  also  served  as  a  colonel  on  the  staif  of 
Gov.  Gilmore.  In  1860  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  that 
nominated  Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  was  elected  a  director  of  the  Merrimack  River  Bank  when  it  was  organ- 
ized, in  1854,  and  was  chosen  its  president  in  1859,  but  resigned  the  next  year. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  trustees  of  the  Merrimack  River  Five  Cent  Savings 
Bank,  and  its  vice-president  in  1800.  He  was  a  director  of  the  Manchester 
Bank  under  its  state  charter,  and  has  since  held  a  similar  position  in  the  Man- 
chester National  Bank,  and  is  a  trustee  in  the  Manchester  Savings  Bank.  He 
has  long  been  connected  with  the  Portsmouth  and  Manchester  &  Lawrence  rail- 
roads as  a  director,  and  since  1878  has  been  president  of  the  Manchester  & 
Lawrence.     He  is  now  president  of  the  Manchester  Gas  Company. 


270  COL.    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN    MARTIN. 

Col.  Martin  married.  January  3,  1886,  Mary  Ann  Rice,  of  Boston,  a  sister 
of  Hon.  Alexander  H.  and  Willard  Kice,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  daughters, 
Fanny  R.,  the  wife  of  Hon.  George  B.  Chandler,  being  the  only  one  now  living. 

Mr.  Martin  is,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  a  successful  business  man.  He 
is  a  master  of  the  art  of  paper-making,  which  was  carried  in  his  mill  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection.  His  standing  in  the  commercial  world  is  such  as  only  a 
long  and  uninterrupted  course  of  honorable  dealing  and  unexceptional  prompt- 
ness in  responding  to  every  obligation  secures.  He  was  (juick  to  see  the  possi- 
bilities of  his  business,  always  ready  to  improve  opi)ortunities,  and  judicious  in 
the  execution  of  all  his  plans. 

In  Manchester,  he  is  highly  honored  and  res])ected  as  a  citizen,  whose  pros- 
perity contributed  to  that  of.  others,  and  as  a  man  whose  integrity  is  beyond 
suspicion,  and  whose  private  life  is  above  reproach.  He  has  been  a  great  help  to 
the  city  in  which  he  has  acquired  most  of  his  wealth,  not  only  in  building  one 
of  her  great  factories  in  which  hundreds  of  men  have  found  steady  and  profit- 
able em])loyment,  but  in  giving  liberally  to  her  charities  and  other  institutions 
which  have  depended  upon  the  generosity  of  the  public,  and  in  discharging  all 
the  duties  of  a  public-spirited  citizen.  He  has  long  been  one  of  the  chief  sup- 
porters of  the  Ei)isc-oi):d  church,  where  he  worships,  and  a  willing  helper  of  the 
Rjpublican  party,  with  which  he  has  always  acted.  His  hom2  is  one  of  the 
most  elegant  in  Manchester  ;  and  it  is  thj  home  of  good  taste,  comfort,  happiness, 
and  hospitality. 


^"S^Vt^o-E.PermB.TJ*'''^ 


HON.  DEXTER  RICHARDS. 


BY    JOSEPH    W.  PARMELEE. 


From  the  twelve  immigrants  of  the  name  of  Richards  that  originally  came 
from  England  to  this  country,  at  different  times,  in  the  years  from  1(J30  to 
1728,  have  come,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  records  of  the  New  England  Historic- 
Grenealogical  Society,  in  Boston,  a  great  number  of  descendants,  who,  from  the 
beginning,  have  borne  a  royal  part  in  the  toils  and  trials  and  hardships  of  our 
early  time,  and  who  are  to-day  represented  in  the  learned  professions,  the  arts, 
commerce,  and  manufactures,  and  general  business  of  this  great  country. 

The  sixth  of  these  immigrants,  in  point  of  time,  was  Edward  Richards,  a 
passenger  in  the  ship  Lion,  from  London,  who  landed  in  Boston,  September  16, 
1032.  His  brother,  Nathaniel,  was  also  a  passenger.  Nathaniel  afterward  joined 
the  party  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,^ a  memorable  expedition, —  and  with  it  traversed 
the  then  howling  wilderness  to  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  and  was  among  the 
founders  of  Hartford. 

Edward  Richards  was,  for  a  time,  resident  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  where  he 
married,  September  10,  1638,  Susan  Hunting.  He  was  afterward  one  of  the 
sixty-two  original  proprietors  of  the  town  of  Dedham,  near  Boston,  where  he 
lived,  and  died  in  1684,  and  where  many  of  his  descendants  are  to  be  found  at 
this  time.  We  follow  the  descent  of  the  line  from  Edward  (1),  through  John 
(2),  John  (3),  John  (4),  Abiathar  (5),  to  Sylvanus  in  the  sixth  generation,  who, 
about  the  beginning  of  this  century,  moved,  with  his  family,  to  Newport,  N.  H., 
where  he  settled  on  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  western  part  of  the  township,  on 
what  is  known  as  the  old  road  to  Claremont.  The  place  is  now  (1882)  in  pos- 
session of  Shepard  H.  Cutting. 

Mr.  Richards  was,  for  some  years,  one  of  the  largest  land-holders  and  tax- 
payers in  the  town.  In  connection  with  his  farming  business  he  kept  a  way-side 
inn,  where  rest  and  refreshment  awaited  the  dusty  and  chilly  traveler, —  man  and 
beast.  This  was  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  before  the  scream  of  the  loco- 
motive was  ever  heard  in  this  part  of  New  Hampshire,  a  time  when  the  people 
were  mostly  dependent  upon  their  own  resources,  in  regard  to  methods  of  travel 
and  transportation. 

About  the  year  1812,  Sylvanus  Richards  moved  to  Newport  Village,  and 
became  the  proprietor  of  the  "Rising  Sun"  tavern,  a  house  originally  built  and 
occupied  as  a  public  house  by  Gordon  Buell,  the  father  of  the  late  Mrs.  Sarah  J. 
Hale,  of  Philadelphia,  the  accomplished  writer  and  editor  of  the  Ladi/s  Book. 
It  was  in  this  house  that  Dexter  Richards  was  born. 

Of  the  four  children,  all  sons,  born  to  S3dvanus  and  Lucy  (Richardson)  his 
wife,  was  Seth  Richards  (7),  born  in  Dedham.  Mass.,  February  20.  1792,  who 
grew  up  to  aid  him  in  his  business,  and  ultimately  succeeded  to  the  proprietor- 
ship of  the  •'  Rising  Sun."     The  writer  remembers  Capt.  Seth  Richards  as  a  man 


272  HON.  dextp:r  rictiakdr. 

of  great  personal  activity  and  tact  in  business,  of  irreproaclia})le  integrity  in  all 
liis  transactions  with  his  fellow-men  through  a  long  and  busy  life,  genial  and 
benevolent,  a  downright  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  in  his  departure  leav- 
ing a  place  in  the  social  and  busin(!sss  affairs  of  this  community  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  fill.  He  was  often  called  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  fill  town  offices  and 
places  of  trust  and  resjioiisihility,  and  was  chosen  as  a  representative  to  the  state 
legislature  in  LSI};}. 

After  leaving  the  hotel  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  mercantile  business, 
and  was  for  some  time  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  Krastus  Baldwin,  one  of  the  earlier 
merchants  of  the  town.  In  1885,  when  the  Cheneys  retired  from  Newport,  he 
purchased  their  stock  and  trade,  and  the  "old  stand,"  and  continued  the  business 
successfully  for  many  years,  or  until  about  the  year  1858,  when  he  became  inter- 
ested in  the  Sugar  River  flannel-mills.  —  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
hereafter,  —  and  finally  retired  from  active  life  about  the  year  18(57. 

Captain  Richards  married,  April  8,  1817,  Fanny  Richards,  of  Dedham, 
Mass.,  and  to  them  were  born,  in  the  years  from  1818  to  1884,  two  sons  and  six 
daughters.  In  regard  to  the  family  of  Seth  and  Fanny  Richards,  we  may  say 
that  no  more  pleasant  and  hos])itable  home  ever  opened  its  doors  in  Newport. 
They  died  in  the  faith  and  communion  of  the  Congregational  church.  Fanny 
died  Aiigust  11,  1854.     Seth  died  October  80,  1871. 

Of  the  children  of  Seth  and  Fanny  Richards,  was  Dexter,  born  September 
5,  1818,  who  is  more  particularly  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Tracing  his  gene- 
alogy, we  find  him  in  the  eighth  generation  from  Edward  in  the  line  of  the 
American  Richardses.  To  say  that  Dexter  Richards  was  born  with  a  silver  spoon 
in  his  mouth  would  belie  the  facts  in  the  case ;  but  to  say  that  he  conies  through 
a  worthy  line  of  ancestors,  and  that  he  inherits  their  good  and  noble  qualities 
and  best  abilities,  will  meet  our  case  at  the  threshold.  lie  has  some  time  said 
that  he  never  had  any  childhood  or  youth,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the 
term  ;  that  in  his  early  years  his  parents  were  in  moderate  circumstances,  and, 
being  the  eldest  son  of  a  family  mostly  daughters,  he  was  called  to  work,  and 
think  of  ways  and  means  for  pronu)ting  their  welfare.  While  other  lads  of  his 
age  were  engaged  in  their  sports  and  {)astimcs,  or  enjoying  public  occasions  like 
the  old-fashioned  trainings  and  musters,  Fourth-of-July  celebrations,  or  town- 
meetings  and  court  days,  he  early  manifested  a  natural  tact  for  business,  by 
engaging  in  some  juvenile  enterprise  by  which  to  turn  an  honest  penny  with 
the  crowd. 

The  public  school  in  district  number  two  afforded  him  an  opportunity  for 
learning  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  which  was  eagerly  improved,  summer  and 
winter,  as  he  could  be  spared  from  other  duties.  When  about  eighteen  years 
of  age  he  finished  his  education,  so  far  as  schools  are  concerned,  with  a  term  or 
two  at  a  high  school  in  Lebanon,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  late  eminent  Prof. 
Edmund  R.  Peaslee.  Mr.  Richards  has,  therefore,  never  been  through  with 
what  is  termed  a  regular  course  of  study,  and  comes  to  us  with  no  diploma  from 
college  or  hall.  The  most  important  part  of  his  education  has  been  ac({uived 
outside  the  schools,  in  the  great  university  of  active  life,  and  is  of  the  most 
practical  character. 

Politically,  he  was  reared  in  the  Democratic  faith ;  but,  when  the  union  of 
the  states  was  assailed,  the  action  of  the  Democratic  party  in  regard  to  the  great 
questions  of  that  day  not  being  in  accord  with  his  views  he  withdrew  from  it, 
and  affiliated  with  the  Republican  party,  just  then  commencing  its  career.  The 
ranks  of  this  great  party,  that  has  for  more  than  twenty  years  dominated  in  this 
country,  were  greatly  augmented  and  strengthened  by  such  acquisitions  from 
the  Democratic  party ;  men  who  arose  in   their  might,  declaring  the  patriotic 


HON.    DEXTER   RICHARDS.  116 

sentiment  of  their  old   leader  and  hero,  Andrew  Jackson, —  ''The    Union  must 
and  shall  he  preserved." 

In  regard  to  his  public  career,  Mr.  Richards  was  many  times,  when  quite  a 
young  man,  elected  to  serve  on  the  board  of  selectmen.  In  the  years  1865, 
180(i,  and  1870,  he  represented  the  town  in  the  state  legislature.  In  1871  and 
1872  he  was  a  member,  from  this  district,  of  the  executive  council,  and  about 
that  time  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  national  convention  at  Philadelphia,  that 
nominated  General  Grant  for  his  second  term  of  the  presidency.  In  1870  he 
was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  for  revising  the  constitution  of  the  state ;  and, 
so  far  as  his  official  course  is  concerned,  from  the  beginning  it  has  been  distin- 
guished by  eminent  ability  and  the  strictest  integrity.  The  "spoils,"  so-called, 
have  never  been  his  object  in  accepting  offices  of  trust  at  the  hands  of  his  con- 
stituents. He  has  found  his  reward  more  in  the  faithful  and  conscientious  per- 
formailce  of  his  duty. 

In  regard  to  the  business  career  of  Mr.  Richards,  we  may  say  it  has  been 
characterized  by  great  industry  and  enterprise,  on  a  basis  of  good  judgment,  and 
in  a  spirit  of  fair  dealing  throughout.  We  have  already  alluded  to  his  early  incli- 
ation  to  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain  in  a  small  way,  as  a  boy,  and  in  this  respect 
the  child  foreshadowed  the  man.  During  the  years  of  his  minority  he  was  the 
faithful  and  efficient  coadjutor  of  his  father  in  all  his  plans  and  purposes,  and 
particularly  so  when  Capt.  Seth  Richards  succeeded  to  the  mercantile  business  at 
the  old  Cheney  stand,  about  the  year  1835.  In  the  management  of  this  busi- 
ness the  son  was  a  most  important  factor,  and  on  coming  of  age  became  a  partner 
with  his  ffither.  The  business  was  well  managed  and  profitable,  and  with  it  came 
prosperity  to  the  Richards  ftimily,  and  to  Dexter  Richards  the  foundation  and 
assurance  of  future  successes  in  life.  About  the  year  1853,  Richards  &  Son 
came  to  be  interested  in  a  flannel-mill  in  Newport,  that,  possibly,  had  not  hereto- 
fore been  very  successfully  managed.  The  history  of  this  concern  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows :  — 

The  Sugar  River  mills  were  built  in  1847,  by  Perley  S.  Coffin  and  John 
Puffin-.  About  the  year  1853,  Richards  k  Son  (  Dexter)  succeeded  by  purchase 
to  the  original  interest  of  John  Pufter,  then  owned  by  D.  J.  Goodridge.  On 
the  retirement  of  the  senior  Richards,  in  1867,  changes  were  made  by  which  the 
entire  establishment  came  into  possession  of  Dexter  Richards,  Mr.  Coffin  retiring 
from  the  concern  with  a  handsome  fortune. 

In  the  prosecution  of  the  business  up  to  this  time,  the  parties  interested  had 
been  singularly  favored  by  circumstances  that  brought  disaster  to  many  other 
firms  and  business  men  throughout  our  northern  towns  and  cities.  We  have  ref- 
erence to  the  great  civil  war  that  about  this  time  (18(51-65)  so  much  disturbed  the 
commerce  of  the  country.  Of  the  gray  twilled  flannels  produced  by  the  Sugar 
River  mills,  a  large  stock  had  accumulated  at  this  time.  The  goods  were  well 
adai)ted  to  the  wants  of  laborers,  and  particularly  the  soldiers  in  the  Union  army. 
The  war  created  a  demand ;  prices  appreciated ;  the  machinery  was  kept  running 
night  and  day ;  the  flannels  found  ready  sale  as  fast  as  they  could  be  produced; 
and  the  success  of  the  Sugar  River  mills  was  henceforth  assured.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  establishment  had  been  greatly  enlarged  and  improved,  and  was  turning 
out  about  eight  hundred  thousand  yards  of  flannel  yearly. 

In  1872,  Seth  Mason  Richards,  the  eldest  son  of  Dexter  Richards,  a  young 
man  just  entered  upon  his  majority,  was  admitted  to  a  partnership  with  his 
father.  Enlargements  and  improvements  have  continued  from  time  to  time,  and 
the  condition  of  the  establishment  at  this  date  (1882)  may  be  stated  as  follows: 
Dexter  Richards  &  Son,  proprietors;  capital  stock,  $150,000.  S.  M.  Richards, 
sui)erintendent ;  Arthur  B.  Chase,   secretary.     It  gives   steady  employment  to 


274  HON.    DEXTER   RICHARDS. 

eighty-five  operatives ;  runs  eight  sets  of  cards,  forty-four  narrow  looms,  fifteen 
spinning-machines ;  works  up  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  pounds  of  cotton 
and  wool,  and  turns  out  annually  nearly  one  million  yards  of  gray  twilled  flan- 
nel. The  trade-mark  (D.  11.  P.)  of  these  goods  is  well  known,  among  dealers 
and  others,  throughout  the  country,  and  the  products  of  the  factory  find  market 
and  ready  sale  through  commission  merchants  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, and  Chicago. 

Up  to  the  year  1871,  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  of  New- 
port and  the  towns  adjoining  had  achieved  all  the  prosperity  it  was  possible  for 
them  to  attain  without  railroad  facilities  to  enable  them  to  compete  successfully 
with  other  places  in  the  enjoyment  of  such  facilities.  As  early  as  1848,  the 
Concord  &  Claremont  Railroad  Company  had  been  incorporated,  and  in  1850  the 
road  had  been  put  in  operation  to  Bradford.  From  Bradford  to  Claremont  the 
rugged  nature  of  the  route  was  appalling  to  engineers  and  contractors,  and  par- 
ticularly so  to  capitalists  who  were  expected  to  construct  the  road.  The  enter- 
prise here  came  to  a  stand.  Further  efforts,  legislative  and  otherwise,  to  continue 
the  work,  were  made  without  success,  and  for  tweuty-one  years  the  heavy-laden 
stages  and  teams  continued  to  toil  on  over  the  weary  hills,  to  and  fro.  waiting  for 
some  able  and  friendly  hand  to  establish  a  new  ordei-  of  things,  and  deliver  them. 
In  the  meantime,  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  that  had  absorbed  the  thought  and 
labor  and  capital  of  the  country,  had  come  and  gone,  and  "enterprises  of  great 
pith  and  moment,"'  that  had  long  slumbered,  were  again  revived,  —  day  dawni'd 
again  upon  the  Sugar  River  Railroad. 

In  the  year  1866,  mainly  through  the  influence  of  Dexter  Richards,  then  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  and  his  enterprise  as  a  citizen,  the  Sugar  River  Rail- 
road Company,  now  known  as  the  Concord  &  Claremont  Railroad  Company,  was 
chartered.  The  means  to  revive  and  continue  the  building  of  the  road  through 
to  Claremont  were  furnished  by  the  Northern  Railroad  Company,  aided  by  large 
assessments  on  the  towns  on  the  route  of  the  road.  The  town  of  Newport,  by 
official  act,  became  responsible  for  forty-five  thousand  dollars,  or  about  five  ])er 
cent  on  its  valuation.  In  addition  to  this  amount,  the  further  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  was  re({uired  to  assure  the  continviance  and  completion  of  the 
work.  Of  this  amount,  Mr.  Richards  became  liable  for  eleven  thousand  dollars, 
and  other  parties  interested  made  up  the  remaining  nine  thousand  dollars.  The 
assurance  of  sixty-five  thousand  dollars  from  the  town  of  Newport  secured  the 
construction  of  the  road  through  to  Claremont  beyond  a  doubt.  The  road  was 
soon  afterward  completed,  and  the  first  regular  train  from  Bradford  to  Claremont 
passed  through  Newport,  September  16,  1872. 

It  was  also  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Ptichards,  that  in  July,  1866, 
the  wires  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  were  extended  and  in  oper- 
ation to  this  town.  Of  the  one  thousand  dollars  subscribed  by  citizens  of  New- 
port to  secure  this  great  facility  of  communication,  three-fourths  of  the  amount 
were  paid  by  him. 

Mr.  Richards  has  identified  himself  with  the  friends  of  education,  and  Dart- 
mouth College  particularly,  by  the  endowment  of  a  scholarship  in  that  venerable 
and  favorite  institution  of  learning.  He  has  also  contributed  liberally  to  the 
support  of  Kiml)all  Union  Academy,  at  Meriden,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the 
trustees.  He  is  also  one  of  the  founders  and  benefactors  of  the  Orphans'  Home, 
at  Franklin,  and  a  trustee  of  the  New  Hampshire  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  at 
Concord,  benevolent  institutions  tliat  are  an  honor  to  our  state. 

The  Congregational  church  and  society,  of  Newport,  of  which  Mr.  Richards 
has  been  for  many  years  a  member,  are  greatly  indebted  to  him  for  their  present 
substantial   prosperity.     He  has  identified    himself    not  only   with    the    ample 


HON.    DEXTER    KICHARDS.  275 

support  of  the  ministry  of  this  time-honored  church,  its  mission  work,  its  chari- 
ties, local  and  remote;  its  Sunday-school,  —  of  which,  up  to  1878,  when  he  retired 
from  x\\2  position,  he  had  been  for  more  than  twenty  years  the  superintendent, — 
but  with  the  improvements  and  additions  to  its  buildings  and  grounds,  and  the 
erection  of  its  parsonage.  At  an  expense  of  some  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  he  has  placed  a  large  and  fine-toned  organ  in  the  choir,  as  a  memorial  of 
a  beloved  daughter  (Elizabeth),  who  died  in  the  year  1868,  in  the  twenty -first 
year  of  her  age. 

To  complete  the  list  of  interests  that  wait  on  Mr.  Richards  for  his  attention, 
we  find  his  name  as  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  New  Hamp- 
shire; and,  also,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  N.  H.  Fire  Insurance  Company,  at 
Manchester.  He  is  the  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Newport.  He 
was  also  one  of  the  founders  and  the  first  president  of  the  Newport  Savings 
Bank,  chartered  July  1,  1868,  and  now  in  successful  operation. 

He  married,  January  27,  1847,  Louisa  Frances,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr. 
Mason  Hatch,  a  long  time  highly  esteemed  physician  and  citizen  of  Newport. 
Of  the  six  children  born  to  them  in  the  years  from  1847  to  1867,  three  only 
survive:  Seth  Mason,  born  June  6,  1850,  now  a  partner  with  his  father  in  the 
Sugar  River  mills  establishment,  in  which  he  has  exhibited  superior  business 
(jualities,  and  bids  fair  to  become  a  useful  and  influential  citizen  of  the  town  and 
state.  Josephine  Ellen,  born  October  30,  1855,  a  graduate  of  the  Female  Semi- 
nary, at  Andover,  Mass.,  and  the  founder  of  a  scholarship  in  honor  of  her  ahna 
mater.  During  the  years  1880  and  1881,  Miss  Richards,  with  a  party  of  friends, 
sought  entertainment  and  culture  from  an  extended  tour  in  Europe,  visiting 
Egypt  and  Palestine  in  the  course  of  their  trip.  William  Francis,  born  January 
28,  1867,  is  now  (1882)  a  student  connected  with  Phillips  Academy,  Andover, 
Mass. 

The  Richards  family  have  a  delightful  cottage  at  Straw's  Point,  Rye  Beach, 
where  an  unaffected  hospitality,  as  well  as  the  breath  of  the  sea,  await  their 
friends  during  the  summer  months. 

There  are  several  instances  in  the  history  of  Newport  of  men  who,  having  ac- 
<|uired  wealth  in  their  dealings  with  its  citizens,  have  removed  to  more  important 
places  to  enjoy  the  spending  and  investing  of  their  incomes,  without  leaving 
behind  them  any  visible  improvement  in  the  way  of  buildings,  or  a  public  good 
of  any  kind,  —  nothing  but  a  memory  of  their  insatiate  avarice,  followed  by  un- 
sparing criticisms.  Such  a  record  can  never  be  made  of  Dexter  Richards.  With 
increasing  ability  in  the  way  of  means,  he  has  manifested  a  corresponding  dispo- 
sition to  improve  the  physical  aspect  of  his  native  town.  He  has  placed  on  the 
street  not  only  his  elegant  private  residence,  but  houses  for  rent,  and  substantial 
and  sightly  blocks  of  buildings  for  business  purposes.  He  has  improved  his 
factory  buildings  and  grounds,  built  barns,  cultivated  lands,  produced  crops,  inter- 
ested himself  in  improved  breeds  of  cattle  and  horses,  thus  giving  employment 
to  many  working  men  and  hands,  and  increased  the  productive  industry  of  the 
town  and  its  general  valuation  in  many  respects,  aside  from  his  manufacturing- 
interest,  as  indicated  by  the  assessments  for  taxation.  He  is  by  far  the  largest 
tax-payer  in  Newport,  and  one  of  the  largest  in  Sullivan  county  and  the  state  of 
New  Hampshire. 

He  has  managed  his  private  aff"airs  and  the  public  business,  as  far  as  it  has 
been  intrusted  to  his  care,  with  superior  ability ;  and  now  in  his  mature  prime  of 
life,  should  the  state  require  his  further  service,  his  past  record  and  present  po- 
sition would  afford  an  abundant  guarantee  for  the  able  fulfillment  of  any  future 
or  more  important  trust. 


HON.  DAVID  HANSON  BUFFUM. 


David  Hanson  Bl  ffum  was  born  in  the  town  of  North  Berwick,  county 
of  York,  and  state  of  Maine,  on  the  tenth  day  of  November,  1820.  He  was  the 
oldest  child  and  only  son  of  Timothy  and  Anna  (Austin)  Buffum.  His  mother 
was  a  native  of  Dover,  —  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Austin.  His  father  —  who 
manufactured  furniture  and  carriages  to  a  limited  extent  —  died  when  the  subject 
of  this  notice  was  but  six  years  of  age,  leaving  also  two  sisters  still  younger. 
Subse((uently  his  mother  was  united  in  marriage  with  William  Hussey,  and  at 
her  death,  fifteen  years  afterward,  two  children  were  left' as  the  result  of  this 
marriage.  Still  later  Mr.  Hussey  was  united  in  marriage  with  Mary  J.  Hanson, 
and,  at  his  death,  in  187(1,  two  children  remained  as  the  result  of  this  union. 
This  presented  the  rather  singular  and  unusual  occurrence,  that  three  children 
by  one  marriage  and  two  children  by  another  were  half-brothers  and  half-sisters 
to  two  children  by  a  third  union,  and  yet  were  in  no  loay  related  to  each  other. 

The  care  of  the  fatherless  six-years-old  boy  and  of  the  two  little  sisters  still 
younger  was  too  much  for  the  very  slender  resources  of  the  widowed  mother. 
The  family  was  broken  up,  and  the  "child  David"  was  taken  into  the  family  of 
his  father's  brother.  The  next  eleven  years  of  his  childhood  and  boyhood  were 
spent  with  this  uncle.  He  was  a  country  merchant  who  "kept  everything,"  as 
the  old-time  merchants  of  fifty  years  ago  all  did.  The  boy  was  taught  to  work 
in  the  store,  "to  do  the  chores,"  and  was  sent  to  the  district  school  as  opportu- 
nity afforded, —  which  generally  consisted  of  two  terms  of  eight  or  ten  weeks 
each  per  year.  The  Quaker  uncle  was  a  kind  but  sturdy  master,  and  habits  of 
temperance,  thrift,  untiring  energy,  steady  perseverance,  and  a  love  of  buying 
and  selling  were  ingrained  into  the  very  bones  of  the  boy.  Leaving  his  uncle 
when  seventeen  years  old,  he  made  his  home  with  his  step-father  for  two  years, 
during  which  time  he  attended  two  terms  at  an  academy,  and  taught  a  country 
school  "to  pay  his  way."  At  nineteen  years  of  age,  in  the  autumn  of  1839,  with 
few  dollars  and  much  courage,  he  commenced  as  a  clerk  with  two  brothers  in  a 
general  store  at  Great  Falls,  in  Strafford  county,  of  which  place  he  has  since 
been  a  citizen.  His  salary  was  eight  dollars  per  month  and  board,  for  the  first 
six  months.  At  twenty-one  he  bought  out  one  of  his  employers,  at  twenty-three 
he  sold  out  to  the  other  and  erected  a  brick  block  which  contained  three  stores, 
one  of  which  he  occupied  as  a  merchant  in  general  merchandise,  always  keeping 
abreast  of  the  times,  until  called  to  a  new  business. 

The  legislature  of  1846  granted  the  charter  of  the  Great  Falls  Bank,  the 
first  in  the  town,  and  its  originators  had  got  together  the  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  of  capital  stock  by  such  efforts  of  labor  and  persuasion  as  would  astonish 
the  railroad  builders  and  bankers  of  these  days.  The  directors,  December  5, 
184G,  selected  Mr.  Buffum  as  its  cashier,  which  position  he  held  until  April  20, 
1863.  On  the  5th  of  August,  1857,  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  Somers- 
worth  Savings  Bank,  which  position  he  held  for  ten  years.  While  he  filled  these 
positions,  both  of  which  he  resigned  in  order  to  give  his  exclusive  attention  to 
manufacturing,  he  had  become  interested,  by  way  of  investments,  in  real  estate, 
shipping,  and  manufacturing. 


HON.    DAVID    HANSON    BUFFUM.  277 

In  1857,  Mr.  Buffum,  in  company  with  John  H.  Burleigh,  organized  the 
\ewichawanick  Woolen  Company  at  South  Berwick,  Me,  an  enterprise  at  first 
unprofitable,  but  which  proved  to  be  a  financial  success.  In  18(;2  he  organized 
the  Great  Falls  Woolen  Company  with  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  whicti 
from  fortunate  earnings  in  the  next  few  years,  was  increased  to  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars;  and  he  has  since  been  treasurer  and  general  manager  ot  it 
exceptino-  for  a  period  of  six  years,  when  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw  from  the 
active  management  by  reason  of  impaired  health,  occasioned  by  too  close  applica- 
tion to  business,  three  years  of  which  time  he  spent  in  travel. 

For  twenty  years  Mr.  Buffum  has  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  ot  woolen 
fabrics,  gradually  extending  his  operations,  until,  at  this  writing,  he  is  owner  of 
a  felt-mill  at  Milton,  N.  H.,  a  partner  in  the  wool-pulling  establishment  ot  L.  K. 
Ilersom  &  Co.,  in  Berwick,  Me.,  treasurer  and  manager  of  the  Great  tails 
Woolen  Company,  and  treasurer  and  director  of  the  Newichawanick  Woolen 
Company  at  South  Berwick,  Me. ;  he  has  also  been  a  director  of  the  Great  tails 
Manufacturing  Company  since  1877.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  Great 
Falls  Bank,  both  state  and  national,  from  its  commencement,  as  cashier,  director, 
and  president,  which  latter  position  he  now  holds ;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
the  first  two  years,  has  been  connected  with  the  Somersworth  Savings  Bank  as 
treasurer,  trustee,  and  vice-president. 

In  local  affairs,  Mr.  Buffum  has  taken  an  active  and  leading  part.  1  he  same 
nervous,  physical  energy  which  made  him  the  first  player  in  the  game  of  ball 
in  his  youth  aftbrded  just  the  qualities  needed  in  the  fire  department,  in  which 
he  was  always  among  "the  foremost,  and  for  many  years  at  the  head.  He  was 
chosen  town  clerk  in^l843-44,  moderator  in  1848  and  1857,  and  selectman  m 
184G  and  1871-72. 

In  political  affairs,  Mr.  Buffum  has  acted  with  the  Whigs  and  Republicans. 
In  1861-G2  he  was  chosen  representative  to  the  legislature,  serving  the  first  year 
as  a  member  of  the  committee  on  banks,  and  the  second  year  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  the  reform  school.  In  1877  he  was  elected  to  the  senate  from 
district  number  five,  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  committees  on  judiciary, 
finance,  banks,  and  state  institutions.  In  1878  he  was  re-elected  to  the  senate, 
and  chosen  its  president.  He  was  the  last  president  of  the  senate  of  twelve  mem- 
bers. Of  the  sixty-two  presidents  of  that  body,  he  was  the  only  one  from  district 
number  five,  or  from  Strafford  county  as  now  constituted.  In  1880  he  was 
elected  as  a  delegate-at-large  to  the  Republican  national  convention  at  Chicago. 

In  his  domestic  relations,  Mr.  Buffum  was  happily  connected,  and  his  home 
reflected  the  results  of  a  successful  business  career.  He  was  married,  January 
26,  1853,  to  Charlotte  E.  Stickney,  daughter  of  Alexander  H.  Stickney,  one  of 
the  old-time  citizens  of  Great  Falls.  The  issue  of  this  union  was  three  sons  and 
a  daughter.  The  wife  and  mother  died  March  8,  1868,  and  the  daughter,  May 
23,  1877.  Two  of  the  sons,  Edgar  Stickney  and  Harry  Austin,  are  graduates,^ 
and  the  third,  David  Hanson  Jr.^  is  now  an  undergraduate,  of  Yale  College.  Of 
the  two  little  sisters  left  fatherless  with  him,  one  is  the  widow  of  the  late  Hon. 
John  H.  Burleigh,  of  South  Berwick,  Me.,  and  the  other  is  the  wife  of  Isaac 
P.  Evans,  an  oil-manufacturer,  of  Richmond,  Ind.  The  half-brother  is  Timothy 
B.  Hussey,  plow-manufacturer,  of  North  Berwick,  Me.,  and  the  half-sister  has 
presided  over  his  household  since  the  death  of  his  wife. 

Mr.  Buffum  received  his  youthful  impressions  and  early  religious  training 
among  the  Society  of  Friends,  whose  tenets  have  exercised  a  marked  influence 
upon  his  career.  At  Great  Falls  he  has  been  a  regular  attendant  at  the  Congre- 
gational church,  to  which  he  has  been  a  liberal  contributor.  The  many  trusts 
committed  to  his  care  fairly  prove  the  esteem  and  respect  in  which  he  has  been 
held  by  his  neighbors  and  townsmen. 


HON.  CHARLES   ADAMS,  JR.,  A.  M, 


UV    REV.    W.    R.    COCHRANE. 


It  ap])e!irs  from  tin-  Now  Knglancl  Historical  and  (lenealogical  Register.  Vo]. 
VJl.,  and  also  from  Drake's  History  and  Antiquities  of  Boston,  folio  edition, 
1854,  that  '•  Ap  Adam  ( the  Welsh  for  Adams)  came  out  of  the  Marches  of 
Wales."  Their  descendants  appear  to  have  lived  for  many  generations  in  the 
English  shires  of  Lancaster,  (lloucester,  and  Devon.  From  the  latter,  Henry 
Adams,  the  first  of  this  family  in  America,  emigrated,  and  settled  in  that  part  of 
Braintree  which  is  now  Quincy.  Mass.,  al)Out  1(530.  He  died  there  in  1040. 
Twenty-four  generations  in  the  male  line  are  given  below,  the  first  seventeen  of 
which  are  copied  from  the  authorities  cited  above. 

1.  Sir  John  Ap  A<lam.  Kut..  Lord  Ap  Adam,  member  of  Parliament  from 

129(J  to  1307. 

2.  Sir  John  Ap  Adam  Kt. 

3.  Sir  John  Ap  Adam. 

4.  William  Ap  Adam. 

5.  Sir  John  Ap  Adam. 

6.  Thomas  Ap  Adam. 

7.  Sir  John  Ap  Adam.  Knt. 

8.  Sir  John  Ap  Adam,  alias  Adams. 

9.  Roger  Adams. 

10.  Thomas  Adams. 

11.  John  Adams. 

12.  John  Adams. 

13.  John  Adams. 

14.  Richard  Adams. 

15.  William  Adams. 

l(j.  Henry   Adams  who  settled  in  Braintree.  (now  Quincy),  Mass.,  and  died 
1646. 

17.  Edward  Adams,  of  Medfield,  Mass. 

18.  John  Adams,  of  Medway,  Mass. 

19.  Abraham  Adams,  of  Brookfield.  Mass. 

20.  Jesse  Adams,  of  Brookfield,  Mass. 

21.  Dr.  Charles  Adams,  of  Antrim,  X.  H. 

22.  Hon.  Charles  Adams,  Jr.,  A.  M.,  North  Brookfield,  Ma.ss. 

23.  Charles  Woodburn  Adams,  North  Brookfield,  Mass. 

24.  Charles  Joseph  Adams,  North, Brookfield,  Mass. 

From  Henry  Adams  (16),  who  settled  in  Braintree,  descended  the  presidents. 
He  had  a  large  family  besides  the  Edward  named  above,  and  among  them  a  son 
Joseph,  born  in   1626,   who   married  Abigail    Baxter.     These  last  had  a   son 


(^!^^,  ^^^fCc^^.^ , 


HON.    C1HARLES    ADAMS,    JH.,    A.  M.  279 

Joseph,  born  December  24,  1654.  Of  this  second  Joseph,  the  second  son  was 
Dea.  John  x\dams  of  Braintree.  Dea.  John  married  Susanna  Boylston,  of 
Brookline,  Mass.,  and  their  oldest  son  was  John  Adams,  born  October  19,  1735, 
second  President  of  the  United  States.  His  oklest  son  M'as  John  Quincy  Adams, 
sixth  President  of  tlie  United  States,  and  father  of  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

Dr.  Charles  Adams,  the  twenty-first  generation  from  Ap  Adam  of  Wales, 
was  son  of  Jesse  and  Miriam  (Richardson)  Adams,  of  Brookfield,  Mass.,  and 
was  born  in  that  place,  February  13,  1782.  His  early  years  were  spent  on  the 
farm  with  his  father.  His  education  was  chiefly  acquired  in  the  district  school 
and  Leicester  Academy.  He  then  taught  some  two  years  in  Half  Moon,  N.  Y. 
On  his  return,  in  1803,  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Asa 
Walker,  of  Barre,  Mass.,  with  whom  he  remained  in  practice  one  year  after  com- 
pleting his  studies.  He  came  to  Antrim,  N.  H.,  and  began  practice  in  the  early 
summer  of  1807,  coming  to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  Nathan  W.  Cleaves,  whose 
early  and  much  lamented  death  occurred  in  April  of  that  year.  Dr.  Adams 
married,  February  13,  1809,  Sarah  McAllister,  of  Antrim,  daughter  of  James 
and  Sarah  (McClary)  McAllister.  She  was  a  woman  of  excellent  tastes  and 
superior  mind,  of  rare  patience  in  toil  and  trial,  and  of  a  sweet  and  winning 
Christian  spirit,  —  all  of  which  made  her  conspicuously  worthy  and  attractive. 
She  was  of  pure  Scotch  descent  and  strict  Presbyterian  opinions.  She  was  a 
mother  whose  children  might  well  "rise  up  and  call  her  blessed."  Dr.  Adams 
was  a  favorite  in  Antrim  ;  was  early  in  town  office  ;  was  a  successful  physician  ; 
was  a  great  reader,  full  of  information  ;  and  was  looked  upon  by  contemporaries 
as  an  original  and  able  man.  He  moved  from  Antrim  to  Oakham,  Mass.,  in 
1816,  where  he  died  of  old  age,  March  6,  1875. 

Hon.  Charles  Adams,  Jr.,  A.  M.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Antrim,  January  31,  1810  ;  in  that  part  of  the  town  then  known  as  "  Woodbury 
Village,"  having  only  eight  or  ten  houses  all  told,  now  the  large  and  flourishing 
village  of  South  Antrim.  Here  he  had  his  first  schooling,  under  charge  of 
Fanny  Baldwin  and  Daniel  M.  Christie,  afterwards  Hon.  Daniel  M.  of  Dover. 
Of  those  early  school-days  he  retains  a  vivid  remembrance ;  and  he  is  the  last  of 
that  group  of  scholars,  or  nearly  the  last,  now  living.  After  removal  from 
Antrim,  he  continued  and  completed  a  common-school  education  at  Oakham ; 
was  at  a  select  school  six  months  unde-r  Bev.  John  Bisbee,  of  Brookfield,  Mass.; 
then  he  studied  eight  months  with  Rev.  Josiah  Clark,  of  Rutland,  Mass.;  and 
this  was  the  limit  of  his  opportunity  for  education.  Then,  though  quite  young, 
he  was  in  a  store  about  five  years  in  Petersham,  Mass.,  obtaining  much  practical 
knowledge  in  the  course  of  his  work.  He  is  what  called  a  self-made  man.  Few  men 
can  be  found  better  versed  in  literary  matters,  or  political  economy,  or  the  history 
of  our  land.  He  has  been  familiar  with  distinguished  men,  and  is  one  we  count 
winsome  in  the  social  hour,  with  a  fund  of  information  on  most  topics  of  con- 
versation ;  with  apt  quotation,  or  vigorous  repartee  ever  ready  on  his  tongue. 
Hence  he  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable,  genial,  and  gentlemanly  of  men.  He 
was  some  years  book-keeper,  and  afterwards  partner,  in  the  immense  boot  and 
shoe-manufacturing  establishment  of  North  Brookfield  (now  employing  from 
twelve  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  hands),  from  which  company  he  retired  just 
before  the  war. 

With  singular  continuance,  Mr.  Adams  has  been  kept  in  offices  of  trust  by  the 
people  of  his  adopted  town  and  state.  He  was  clerk  of  North  Brookfield  (now 
of  about  forty-five  hundred  inhabitants)  ten  years  ;  representative  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts house  four  years ;  on  the  executive  council  of  Massachusetts  four 
years ;  treasurer  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  five  years  ;  and  member  of  tKe 
senate  of  that  state  four  years.     And  in  all  these  cases  the  office  sought  the  man, 


280  HON.    CHARLES    ADAMS,    JH.,    A.  M, 

not  tlie  man  tlu'  office.  The  writer  of  tliis  knows  tliat  some  of  liis  friends  were 
almost  angry  with  him  because  he  would  not  consent  to  run  for  congress,  when 
the  way  was  clear  and  an  election  sure.  It  is  simply  the  truth  to  say  that  he 
has  been  in  public  life  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ;  that  lie  is  a  man  of 
fixed  principles  and  irreproachable  character,  a  vigorous  hater  of  shams  and 
corruption,' and  held  in  honor  throughout  his  adopted  state. 

Inuring  his  administration  as  treasurer  and  receiver-general  of  the  common-  ' 
wealth,  it  became  necessary,  in  arranging  its  financial  matters,  to  negotiate,  sign, 
and  deliver  in  l-']ngland,  a  large  amount  of  its  bonds,  and  Mr.  Adams  was  com- 
missioned by  the  governor  and  council  to  go  to  London  for  that  purpose.  After 
having  successfully  accomplished  the  objects  of  his  mission,  he  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  traveling  for  a  short  time  on  the  continent  of  Kurope,  as  well  as  in 
(Ireat  Britain,  and  especially  in  Scotland.  In  the  latter  country  he  had  an  ardent 
and  loving  interc^st,  which  was  increased  by  travel  there,  and  has  lost  nothing  in 
subsequent  years.      He  is  a  Scotch  anti(juarian  of  much  reading  and  research. 

Mr.  Adams  has  always  been  greatly  attached  to  his  native  town,  Antrim, — 
cherishing  with  undiminished  love  the  rocks  and  the  hills  upon  which  he  looked 
in  childhood.  His  visits  are  fre([uent  to  the  old  town;  he  still  retains  his  mem- 
bership in  the  old  Presbyterian  church  ;  clearly  remembers  the  old  faces ;  loves 
the  old  ways  ;  was  a  great  helper  in  preparing  the  recent  History  of  Antrim,  and 
was  a  willing  contributor  to  its  embellishment.  AVith  all  the  rest,  he  has  been 
something  of  a  musician,  being  a  member  of  the  church  choir  (North  Brookfield, 
Mass.,)  more  than  forty  years, — for  many  years  its  leader.  And  in  these  traits 
his  children  follow  him,  as  they  are  gifted  with  rare  mvisical  taste  and  skill. 

Mr.  Adams  married.  May  8,  18H-I,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Hon.  Joseph  Cum- 
mings,  of  Ware,  Mass. ;  and  they  have  three  surviving  children,  —  Charles 
Woodburn  and  George  Arthur,  of  North  Brookfield,  and  John  Quincy,  of  Bos- 
ton. An  only  daughter,  Ellen  Eliza,  married  Frank  A.  Smith,  and  died  at  West 
Brookfield  in  IBBG'.^ 

The  degree  of  A.  M.  was  conferred  on  Mr.  Adams  by  Dartmouth  College 
in  1878.  And  it  may  be  added  that  such  men  as  Mr.  Adams  are  continually 
reflecting  honor  upon  our  rocky  New  Hampshire,  from  which  they  went  forth. 
Their  success  goes  to  prove,  that,  with  an  eager  mind,  good  ready  common  sense, 
persevering  application,  and  inflexible  honesty,  the  boys  of  the  Granite  State 
may  win  high  places  among  men.  We  see  by  this  biography,  that,  if  the  man  he 
good  enough^  the  place  will  seek  the  man.  Truth  and  uprightness,  backed  by 
good  abilities,  are  pretty  sure  to  be  appreciated. 


'%i 


Ml- 


'^^ 


GOV.  BENJAMIN  F.  PRESCOTT. 


BY    COL.    WILLIAM    E.    STEVENS. 


The  first  person  by  the  name  of  Prescott  in  the  province  of  New  Hampshire, 
was  James,  who  came  from  Dryby,  in  the  county  of  Lincolnshire,  in  England, 
and  settled  in  Hampton,  in  1G65.  On  his  arrival  he  began  farming  operations 
in  what  is  now  Hampton  Falls,  upon  the  farm  now  known  as  the  "  Wells  Healy 
place,"  and  remained  there  until  he  moved  to  Kingston,  in  1725,  when  that  town 
was  granted  to  him,  and  others.  In  l(i68  he  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Nathan- 
iel and  Grace  Boulter,  who  was  born  in  Exeter,  May  15,  1()48.  From  this  couple 
sprang  the  Prescotts  in  New  Hampshire.  James  was  the  second  cousin  of  John, 
who  came  to  Massachusetts  and  settled  in  Watertown  in  1640,  from  whom  sprang 
the  Prescotts  mainly  in  that  state,  and  among  them  Col.  William,  the  hero  of 
Bunker  Hill,  and  his  grandson,  William  H.  Prescott,  the  eminent  scholar  and 
historian.  James  is  represented  to  have  been  an  influential  man,  honest  in  his 
dealings,  upright  in  character,  sound  in  judgment.  His  opinions  were  sought 
and  respected.  They  had  nine  children,  five  sons  and  four  daughters.  Their 
fourth  child  was  Jonathan,  who  was  born  August  6,  1675.  When  he  grew  up, 
he  settled  in  that  part  of  Hampton,  which,  since  17H7,  has  been  known  as  Ken- 
sington. In  16)06  he  was  at  Fort  William  and  Mary  and  remained  there  some 
time,  and  in  1710  served  under  Capt.  John  Gilman  in  a  scouting  party.  He  had 
four  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  first  child  was  named  Jonathan.  He  was 
married,  April  3,  1721,  to  Judith,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Judith  (Sanborn) 
Gove.  He  was  appointed,  by  Gov.  Benning  Wentworth,  captain  in  a  company, 
in  the  celebrated  expedition  against  Louisburg,  on  the  island  of  Cape  Breton, 
under  Sir  William  Pepperell.  While  on  this  expedition  he  died  of  fever  on  the 
lOth  of  January,  1746,  leaving  eleven  children,  four  sons  and  seven  daughters. 
His  eighth  child  was  named  Nathan  Gove  Prescott,  and  was  born  March  18, 
1735.  He  married,  February  24,  1757,  Patience  Brown,  of  Kensington.  Near 
the  time  of  his  marriage  he  moved  to  Epping  and  began  work  as  a  farmer  and 
blacksmith.  His  brother  Micah  settled  near  him,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
road,  and  was  engaged  in  the  same  occupation.  They  both  signed  the  "  Associ- 
ation Test,'"  in  1776,  with  two  hundred  and  seven  others  in  the  town. 

Nathan  Gove  Prescott  had  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  born 
upon  the  farm  where  he  settled.  He  died  November  13,  1825,  aged  nearly 
ninety-one  years.  Nathan  was  his  first  child,  and  was  born  June  25,  1759.  He 
became  a  carpenter  and  went  to  Monmouth  in  the  province  of  Maine,  but 
returned  to  New  Hampshire  and  died  at  an  advanced  age.  He  married  Anna 
Wells  and  had  nine  children,  four  sons  and  five  daughters.  His  fourth  son  was 
Asa,  who  was  born  in  Deerfield,  May  2,  1787.  He  was  a  farmer  and  blacksmith. 
He  married  Polly  Clark,  of  Greenland,  and  by  this  marriage  had  nine  children, 
six  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  died  in  Epsom,  March  27,  1867,  aged  nearly 
eighty  years.  His  oldest  son  was  named  Nathan  Gove  Prescott,  after  his  great- 
19 


282  GOV.    BENJAMIN    F.    PRESCOTT. 

grandfather.  He  was  l)orn  ujion  the  liomestead,  November  1,  1807.  He  became 
a  farmer  and  was  successful  in  his  work.  He  possessed  excellent  judgment  on  all 
matters  relating  to  his  occui)ation,  and  was  considered  by  «ill  who  knew  him  as 
an  excellent  and  thrifty  farmer  with  the  limited  means  at  his  command.  He  was 
honest,  frugal,  and  upright.  His  word  was  never  questioned,  his  judgment  was 
relied  upon,  and  his  opinion  respected  and  valued  by  his  townsmen.  On  the  9th 
day  of  May,  1832,  he  married  Betsey  Hills  Richards,  daughter  of  Captain  Ben- 
jamin and  Mehitable  (Hills)  llicharcls,  of  Nottingham,  who  was  born  December 
21,  1811.  She  is  a  lady  of  fine  presence,  vigorous  constitution,  and  cultivated 
manners.  She  still  resides  in  Kpping  with  her  son.  Her  husband,  Nathan  Gove 
Prescott,  died  July  7,  1866,  aged  nearly  sixty  years.  They  had  only  one  child, 
Benjamin  Franklin  Prescott,  who  was  born  on  the  family  homestead, 
February  26,  1833.     Thus  the  line  of  ancestry  has  been  traced  from  1665. 

The  families  on  both  sides  can  point  to  a  fair  and  honorable  record.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  inherited  from  his  paternal  and  maternal  line  a  strong  con- 
stitution and  great  power  of  endurance,  which  have  aided  him  much  in  his  career. 
Like  the  rest  of  the  boys  in  his  neighborhood,  he  attended  the  district  school  a 
few  months  in  the  summer  and  winter,  and  worked  upon  the  farm  the  remainder 
of  the  time.  He  made  commendable  progress  in  his  studies,  and  as  soon  as  his 
age  would  allow,  his  parents,  feeling  the  want  of  a  liberal  education  themselves, 
determined  to  give  their  son  the  advantages  of  the  higher  seminaries  of  learning. 
In  the  fall  of  1847  he  Avas  sent  to  Blanchard  Academy,  in  Pembroke,  w^here  he 
remained  a  portion  of  the  time  till  1850,  when  he  entered  Phillips  Academy,  in 
Exeter.  He  remained  at  this  distinguished  institution  until  the  summer  of  1853, 
when  he  entered  the  sophomore  class  in  Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated in  1856.  While  at  Exeter  he  delivered  an  oration  before  the  "Golden 
Branch,"  a  literary  society,  at  its  annual  anniversary,  which  at  the  time  was  well 
received.  While  in  college,  in  the  winter  of  1855,  he  taught  school  in  Chester. 
At  his  graduation  he  had  an  oration,  and  was  for  a  time  president  of  the  United 
Fraternity,  a  public  society  in  the  college.  After  his  graduation,  in  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1856  he  taught  two  district  schools  and  one  private  school  in  Flpping, 
and  in  February,  1857,  he  entered  as  a  student  in  the  law  firm  of  Henry  A.  & 
Abel  H.  Bellows,  in  Concord,  and  after  studying  the  requisite  time  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  in  August,  1859.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Concord, 
and  remained  in  it  until  May,  1861,  when  he  became  associate  editor  of  the 
Independent  Democrat,  during  the  absence  of  Hon.  George  G.  Fogg,  United 
States  minister  to  Switzerland,  until  the  summer  of  1866. 

Mr.  Prescott  was,  from  his  youth,  strongly  opposed  to  the  institution  of 
slavery,  and  on  reaching  his  majority  allied  himself  wath  the  Republican  party, 
and  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for  John  C.  Fremont.  His  father  was  also  a 
Whig  and  then  Republican.  About  1858  or  1859  he  was  elected  secretary  of 
the  Republican  state  committee,  succeeding  the  Hon.  William  E.  Chandler,  and 
filled  that  position  for  fifteen  years,  during  w^hich  time  many  of  the  important 
and  successful  political  campaigns  were  conducted. 

While  connected  with  the  Independent  Democrat,  he  was  appointed  a  special 
agent  of  the  United  States  Treasury  Department  for  New  England,  his  duty 
being,  unless  otherwise  directed,  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  custom-houses 
and  their  business,  light-houses,  revenue-cutters,  sub-treasury  and  marine  hospi- 
tals. He  held  this  position  less  than  three  years,  and  was  removed  early  in  the 
administration  of  Andrew  Johnson  because  he  openly  denounced  the  policy  and 
course  of  the  President.  He  served  as  secretary  of  the  colleges  of  electors 
for  New  Hampshire  in  1860,  1864,  1868,  1872,  1876  and  1880  ;  he  was  elected 
secretary  of  state  in  June,  1872,  1873,  1875,  and  187(!.     (3n  the  10th  of  Jan- 


GOV.    BENJAMIN    F.    PRESCOTT.  283 

nary,  1877,  Mr.  Prescott  received  the  nomination  as  the  Republican  candidate 
for  governor,  and  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  INIareh  following  was  elected,  by  a 
majority  of  thirty-six  hundred  and  thirty-two  over  his  competitor,  Hon.  Daniel 
Marcy,  of  Portsmouth.  On  the  0th  day  of  January,  1878,  he  was  unanimously 
renominated  at  the  state  convention  in  Concord,  and  on  the  second  Tuesday  of 
March  following  was  re-elected  by  a  majority  of  nine  hundred  and  fifty-six  over 
his  regular  competitor,  Hon.  Frank  A.  McKean,  of  Nashua,  and  a  plurality  of 
fifteen  hundred  and  twelve.  On  June  16,  18()2,  he  was  elected  a  resident  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  and  was  for  several  years  vice- 
president  of  the  same.  In  1876  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Historical 
Society  of  Great  Britain,  also  president  of  the  Bennington  ( Vt. )  Battle  Monu- 
ment Association,  also  president  of  the  Provident  Mutual  Relief  Association. 
On  May  6,  1880,  he  was  elected  a  delegate-at-large  to  the  Republican  conven- 
tion in  Chicago,  and  while  there  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  New  Hampshire 
delegation.  On  the  8th  of  December,  1881,  he  was  elected  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Marshfield  Club  in  Boston.  In  1874  he  was  appointed  a  trustee  of  the 
New  Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts,  and  in  1878  he 
was  elected  a  trustee  of  Dartmouth  College,  both  of  which  positions  he  holds  at 
the  present  time. 

While  governor,  he  was  frequently  called  upon  to  address  public  and  private 
gatherings,  and  when  it  did  not  interfere  with  his  official  duties  he  seldom  failed 
to  respond.  His  first  address  was  at  Epping,  on  the  occasion  of  a  public  recep- 
tion given  him  by  the  citizens  of  the  town,  without  distinction  of  party,  on  the 
day  after  his  inauguration.  The  occasion  was  brilliant  and  highly  complimentary. 
He  also  w^as  present  at  the  inauguration  of  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Bartlett,  D.  D.,  LL.D., 
as  president  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  gave  an  address  of  welcome  to  this  emi- 
nent scholar.  The  governor  visited,  with  a  large  detachment  of  the  state  militia 
and  distinguished  citizens  of  the  state,  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  battle  of 
Bennington,  Vt.,  and  spoke  there  for  the  state  at  the  banquet  on  that  memorable 
occasion.  He  was  also  at  state  and  town  fairs,  and  meetings  of  various  kinds 
held  within  the  limits,  and  without  the  state,  on  all  of  which  occasions  he  acquit- 
ted himself  creditably,  both  in  matter  and  manner,  his  style  of  speech  being 
graceful  and  forcible. 

Gov.  Prescott  was  married,  June  10,  1860,  to  Mary  Little  Noyes,  daughter 
of  Jefferson  and  Nancy  (Peart)  Noyes,  of  Concord.  Mrs.  Prescott  was  born 
in  Atkinson,  May  6,  1880.  She  is  a  lady  of  refined  manners  and  a  favorite  in 
society.  They  have  had  only  one  child,  who  takes  his  father's  name.  He  was 
born  June  16,  1870,  upon  the  family  homestead.  Gov.  Prescott  is  an  excellent 
and  successful  farmer,  and  has  a  large  farm  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
In  1876  he  erected  a  spacious  dwelling-house  and  other  buildings.  He  has  a 
large  and  well  selected  library. 

Under  Gov.  Prescott's  administration  the  laws  of  the  state  were  revised,  the 
liew  prison  constructed,  the  militia  re-organized,  and  jiulicial  appointments  made. 
The  prison  was  built  within  the  appropriation.  In  all  his  official  acts  Gov.  Pres- 
cott was  animated  by  a  purpose  single  to  the  welfare  of  the  state,  and  upon  his 
retirement  to  private  life,  at  the  end  of  his  term,  he  took  with  him  the  respect  of 
its  people,  irrespective  of  party  or  sect.  Pre-eminently  a  man  of  the  people,  with- 
out ostentation  or  pride  of  place  beyond  that  which  is  befitting  one  who  has  filled 
the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  he  has  always  been  as  approachable  to  the  humblest 
citizen  as  to  the  most  exalted  personage. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  public  life,  Gov.  Prescott  has  taken  a  deep  inter- 
est in  all  that  appertains  to  the  welfare  of  his  native  state.  For  its  institutions 
of  learning  he  has  shown  a  high  regard.      His  ahua  mater,  Dartmouth   College, 


284  GOV.    BENJAMIN    F.    PKESCOTT. 

is  an  object  of  solicitude,  and  no  other  son  has  done  more  for  her  in  proportion 
to  his  means  and  influence.  Many  of  tlie  portraits  of  eminent  graduates,  presi- 
dents, and  benefactors  that  now  adorn  the  walls  of  the  college,  were  procured 
through  his  thoughtful  and  persistent  eflPorts.  The  portraits  and  marble  busts 
that  grace  the  hall  in  Phillips  Academy,  in  Exeter,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
were  secured  to  it  through  his  indefatigable  zeal  and  wise  action.  This  declara- 
tion will  apply  with  equal  truth  to  the  collection  of  portraits  by  eminent  artists 
in  the  state-house,  and  also  the  Historical  Society  at  Concord.  His  interest  in 
the  history  of  the  state  is  very  keen,  and  few  of  New  Hampshire's  sons  have 
done  more  to  vindicate  the  fame  of  her  Revolutionary  heroes,  and  secure  for 
them  and  their  state  the  credit  withheld  l}y  partial  or  poorly  informed  historians. 

(tov.  Prescott  has  a  fine  presence.  Ei-ect  of  body,  with  broad  massive  shoul- 
ders indicative  of  great  physical  strength ;  features  regular,  strongly  marked  and 
of  kindly  expression ;  agreeable  manners,  genial  and  open-hearted ;  out-spoken 
at  all  times,  but  never  censoriovis ;  hospitable,  and  considerate;  a  strict  partisan, 
but  never  intrusive  or  arrogant;  impatient  of  shams,  but  a  firm  friend  of  all 
philanthropic  undertakings,  —  he  has  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  luster  to 
his  state  and  country  every  place  of  honor  and  trust  to  which  the  favor  and  good 
judgment  of  his  fellow-citizens  have  called  him. 


/i,.„„r/.„-ji„„/.x,.i,i,  yy 


HON.  HENRY  WILLIAM  BLAIR. 


Among  the  many  strong  and  self-reliant  men  and  women  who  went  out  from 
the  old  Scotch-Irish  colony  of  Londonderry  to  establish  homes  in  other  sections 
of  the  state  were  the  Livermores,  Shepherds,  Coxes,  and  Blairs,  who  were  the 
first  settlers  in  the  Pemigewasset  valley,  where  they  and  their  descendants  have 
ever  since  exerted  a  controlling  influence. 

The  Blairs  located  in  Campton,  where  the  father  of  New  Hampshire's  senator 
of  that  name  was  born  and  grew  to  manhood.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar,  a 
talented  musician,  an  accomplished  military  officer,  and  a  man  of  great  bodily 
strength  and  agility  who  was  a  recognized  leader  in  the  town.  His  wife  was 
Lois  Baker,  a  descendant  of  the  Bakers  of  Candia,  a  family  noted  in  colonial 
and  revolutionary  times,  and  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  respected  and  in- 
fluential in  Campton.  She  was  a  very  tine  singer,  and  was  gifted  with  remark- 
able mental  endowments  and  rare  sweetness  of  disposition.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Blair  were  teachers  in  their  youth,  but  after  their  marriage  located  themselves 
upon  a  farm  in  their  native  town,  where  they  lived  happily  until  he  was  fatally 
injured  by  falling  timbers,  while  engaged  upon  the  frame  of  a  building.  He 
died  December  8,  1836,  leaving  three  children  :  a  daughter,  Hannah  Palmer 
Blair,  aged  six  years ;  a  son,  Moses  Baker  Blair,  aged  four  yeai's ;  and  a  son, 
Henry  William  Blair,  aged  two  years.  A  fourth  child,  Lois  Esther  Blair, 
was  born  soon  after  his  death.  Of  these,  the  oldest  daughter  died  in  1843,  and 
the  oldest  son,  a  young  man  of  remarkable  abilities,  in  1857. 

The  death  of  INIr.  Blair  left  his  widow  very  poor,  and  finding  it  impossible 
to  support  the  children  in  her  old  home  she  was  obliged  to  separate  them.  The 
two  eldest  were  "put  out"  to  live  in  the  families  of  neighboring  farmers,  while 
she  kept  with  her  the  youngest  son,  Henry,  and  the  infant  daughter,  until  he 
was  six  years  of  age,  when  she  arranged  with  Samuel  Keniston,  a  leading  citizen 
of  Campton,  to  take  him  for  one  year,  and,  carrying  the  little  girl  with  her, 
journeyed  by  stage  to  Lowell  in  quest  of  work  in  the  ftictories  there,  by  which 
she  might  obtain  the  means  to  support  and  educate  her  children.  This  venture 
was  not  a  pecuniary  success,  as  her  small  earnings  were  nearly  all  absorbed  in 
necessary  expenses;  and  in  the  summer  of  1842  she  returned  to  Campton,  and 
soon  after  removed  with  the  two  young  children  to  Plymouth,  where  for  the  next 
year  she  supported  them  by  sewing. 

At  this  time  the  boy  Henry  W.,  who  was  born  December  6,  1834,  was  seven 
years  of  age,  bright,  active,  and  able  to  make  himself  useful  on  a  farm ;  and  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  Richard  Bartlett,  one  of  the  prosperous  farmers  of 
Campton,  who  offered  to  take  him  and  give  him  a  home  in  his  house,  with  what 
gmall  educational  advantages  the  district  school  aftbrded,  in  return  for  such  ser- 
vices as  a  boy  of  his  build  and  mettle  could  render.  Thither  he  went  in  May, 
1843,  to  begin  to  earn  his  own  living,  and  for  several  years  his  home  was  with 
Mr.  Bartlett,  who  treated  him  kindly  and  generously.  In  1846  Mrs.  Blair  died, 
and  from  that  time  on  the  boy  fought  the  battle  of  life  aided  only  by  such  friends 


286  HON.    HEN^RY    WILLIAM    BLAIR. 

as  he  made  for  liimself,  and  inspired  by  a  purpose  to  show  himself  a  worthy  son 
of  his  noble  parents,  whose  memory  he  has  always  reverently  cherished.  Writing 
of  them  many  years  after,  when  the  people  of  New  Hampshire  had  conferred 
upon  him  the  highest  honor  in  their  gift,  he  said:  "I  owe  very  much  to  my 
parents,  who,  though  poor,  were  among  the  best  that  a  child  ever  had  ;  and  tu 
them  I  have  always  applied  Cowper's  proud  tribute  to  his  own :  — 

'  My  l)oast  is  not  that  I  deduce  my  birth 

From  loins  enthroned,  and  rulers  of  the  earth, 
But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise, 
The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies.'  " 

TTntil  he  was  seventeen  he  worked  hard  upon  a  farm  summers,  and  attended 
the  district  school  winters,  and  in  the  autumns  of  1851  and  1852  the  Holmes 
Academy  at  Plymouth,  of  which  Rev.  James  H.  Shepard  was  principal.  His 
earnings  the  following  winter  enabled  him  to  still  further  gratify  his  longings  for 
an  education  by  going  to  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary  for  one  term 
in  the  spring  of  1853.  As  this  exhausted  his  means,  in  the  h(jpe  of  obtaining 
more  he  worked  for  a  meclianic  one  year,  and  was  expecting  soon  to  resume  liis 
studies,  when  his  employer  failed  in  business  and  he  lost  his  wages.  Before  he 
could  secure  another  situation  he  was  prostrated  by  a  severe  illness,  which  left 
him  broken  in  health,  and  compelled  him,  after  a  long  struggle,  to  abandon  his 
purpose  of  obtaining  a  collegiate  training.  The  next  three  years  he  worked 
upon  a  farm,  taught  school  in  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  trani])ed 
through  this  state  selling  books,  and  did  whatever  honest  work  his  health  would 
permit,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  strength  and  money  enough  to  complete  his 
academical  course,  studying,  in  the  meantime,  two  terms  at  Northfield  and  one  at 
Plymouth,  when  it  became  evident  that  his  strength  was  unequal  to  the  task  he 
had  set  himself,  and  he  yielded  to  the  advice  of  Samuel  A.  Burns,  an  eminent 
scholar  and  teacher,  who  took  a  warm  interest  in  him,  and  May  1,  185(),  entered 
the  office  of  William  Ijeverett,  an  able  Plymouth  lawyer,  as  a  student.  Three 
years  afterwards  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and,  associating  himself  with  his 
instructor,  began  practice  as  the  junior  member  of  the  firm  of  Leverett  &  Blair  ; 
and,  devoting  himself  to  his  profession  with  the  same  industry,  perseverance,  and 
ability  which  enabled  him  to  enter  it,  he* soon  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  a 
lawyer.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  solicitor  of  Grafton  county,  which  was 
his  first  public  office. 

From  the  first,  Mr.  Blair  was  a  thorough-going  Republican.  An  instinctive 
hatred  of  slavery  and  all  its  attendant  iniquities  inspired  him  as  a  boy  to  look 
eagerly  forward  to  the  time  when  he  could  join  in  the  warfare  against  it,  and 
when  he  reached  his  majority  he  lost  no  occasion  to  declare  by  voice  and  vote 
his  convictions  upon  the  subject.  When  the  slaveholders  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt  against  the  government,  he  had  just  begun  to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  early 
struggles  and  see  the  realization  of  his  boyish  dreams  of  success  in  his  pro- 
fession ;  but  every  call  for  men  served  to  render  him  uncomfortable  at  home,  and 
while  the  Twelfth  Regiment  was  being  recruited  he  put  away  his  books  and 
briefs  and  tried  to  join  it,  but  failed  to  pass  the  surgeon's  examination.  He  then 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Fifteenth  Regiment,  and  was  chosen  captain  of  Com- 
pany B.  Before  leaving  the  state  he  was  commissioned  major  by  Gov.  Berry, 
in  which  capacity  he  went  to  Louisiana.  Soon  after  his  arrival  there  the  dis- 
ability of  his  superior  officers  left  him  in  command  of  the  regiment,  and  from 
that  time  the  drill  and  discipline  which  made  it  one  of  the  best  in  the  service 
were  his  work.  In  the  assault  upon  Port  Hudson,  in  May,  18G3,  he  was 
severely  wounded  by  a  minie-ball,  in  the   right  arm,  and  was   carried   to   the 


HON.    HENRY   WILLIAM    BLAIR.  287 

hospital  to  recover  ;  but,  learning  a  few  days  later  that  another  attack  on  that  rebel 
stronghold  was  to  be  made,  he  insisted  on  disregarding  the  commands  of  the 
surgeons  by  joining  his  command,  and,  with  his  arm  in  a  sling,  led  his  men,  who 
had  the  right  of  the  column,  in  the  ill-fated  charge  of  June  14.  Here  he  was 
shot  again  in  the  same  arm  by  a  bullet,  which  tore  open  the  old  wound ;  but  he 
refused  to  leave  his  troops,  and  remained  with  them  until  he  could  take  them 
from  the  field.  About  this  time  he  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  regiment,  and,  as  such,  brought  it  home  when  its  term  of  service  had 
expired.  He  reached  Concord  little  more  than  a  bodily  wreck,  and  for  some 
days  his  life  hung  by  a  thread ;  but  careful  nursing  by  his  devoted  wife  and 
friends  restored  him  to  sufficient  strength  to  warrant  his  removal  to  his  old  home 
on  the  banks  of  the  Pemigewasset. 

A  long  season  of  suffering  and  disability  from  wounds  and  disease  contracted 
in  the  army  followed  his  return ;  but  he  gradually  regained  his  health  sufficiently 
to  resume  the  practice  of  law  at  Plymouth,  in  which  the  court  records  show  him 
to  have  been  remarkably  successful.  He  had  a  legal  mind,  had  fitted  himself 
for  the  bar  with  great  thoroughness,  prepared  his  cases  carefully  and  patiently, 
and  managed  them  skillfully,  seldom  failing  to  obtain  a  verdict.  The  Grrafton- 
county  bar  was  at  that  time  noted  for  the  ability  and  learning  of  its  members, 
and  he  was  rapidly  working  his  way  to  a  prominent  place  among  them,  when  he 
turned  aside  to  enter  political  life,  —  a  step  which  many  of  the  eminent  men 
with  whom  he  was  associated  in  the  trial  of  causes  regard  even  now  as  a  great 
mistake,  his  brilliant  success  in  the  field  of  politics  failing,  in  their  estimation, 
to  compensate  for  what  he  was  capable  of  achieving  in  the  law.  For  several 
years  he  practiced  alone  ;  but  in  1875  formed  a  partnership  with  Alvin  Burleigh, 
which  continued  until  his  election  to  the  senate. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Blair  was  elected  a  representative  to  the  popular  branch  of  the 
state  legislature,  and  there  began  the  political  service  which  has  since  made  him 
so  widely  known.  The  next  year  he  was  promoted  to  the  state  senate  by  the 
voters  of  the  eleventh  district,  and  in  1868  was  re-elected.  In  1872  the  third 
district,  composed  of  the  counties  of  Coos,  Grafton,  Sullivan,  and  Cheshire, 
elected  a  Democrat  to  congress;  and  in  1874  the  Republicans,  looking  about  for 
a  candidate  under  whose  lead  they  could  redeem  it,  found  him  in  Mr.  Blair,  whose 
reputation  as  a  soldier,  clean  record  as  a  citizen,  personal  popularity,  and  inde- 
fatigable industry  and  zeal  dictated  his  enthusiastic  nomination,  and  after  an 
exciting  campaign  secured  his  election  to  the  forty-fourth  congress.  In  1876  he 
was  again  elected,  and  in  1878  declined  a  renomiuation.  The  next  summer  the 
term  of  United  States  Senator  Wadleigh  expired,  and  Mr.  Blair  came  forward 
as  a  candidate  for  the  succession.  He  was  earnestly  supported  by  the  younger 
men  of  the  party,  by  the  temperance  and  soldier  elements ;  and,  though  his  com- 
petitors were  the  ablest  men  in  the  state,  he  bore  away  the  great  prize,  and  imme- 
diately entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  at  Washington,  to  which  he  has 
since  devoted  himself. 

Mr.  Blair's  election  to  the  national  senate  was  largely  due  to  the  record  he 
had  made  in  the  house,  and  to  his  remarkable  faculty  of  winning  and  retaining 
the  hearty  friendship  of  nearly  all  with  whom  he  had  ever  been  associated. 
From  his  youth  up  he  had  held  radical  views  upon  public  questions ;  and  the  per- 
sistency and  zeal  with  which  he  advanced  and  defended  these  under  all  circum- 
stances convinced  even  his  opponents  of  his  entire  sincerity,  and  bound  to  him 
his  coworkers  with  locks  of  steel.  Men  liked  him  because  he  was  cordial,  frank, 
and  earnest,  and  respected  him  because  he  had  ability,  industry,  and  courage  ; 
and  so  they  rallied  around  him  with  a  devotion  and  faith  which  overcame  all 
opposition. 


288  HON.    HENRY    WILLIAM    BLAIR. 

During  the  four  years  he  represented  the  third  district  in  the  house,  he  served 
upon  the  committees  on  Raih-oads  and  Accounts,  and  several  special  committees. 
In  the  senate  of  the  forty-sixth  congress,  u|)on  the  committees  on  Education 
and  Jiabor,  Agriculture,  Trans[)ortation,  Routes  to  the  Seaboard,  Election  Frauds, 
l^ensions,  and  Exodus  of  the  Colored  People :  and  in  thi'  pi'csent  congress  is  chair- 
man of  the  senate  committee  on  Education  and  Labor,  and  a  member  of  those  on 
Pensions,  Public  Lands,  Agriculture,  and  Woman  Suifrage. 

Soon  after  entering  the  house  he  introduced  and  advocated  with  great  a))ility 
a  proposition  to  anit>nd  the  national  constitution  so  as  to  prohibit  the  manufac- 
ture or  sale  of  distilled  spirits  in  the  United  States  after  1890,  a  measure  which 
gave  him  a  national  reputation,  and  caused  him  to  be  recognized  by  the  temper- 
ance people  of  the  country  as  their  leader  and  champion  in  the  national  capitol. 
The  woman  suffragists  have  alsct  found  in  him  a  vigorous  and  unwearying  de- 
fender;  and  his  speeches  in  support  of  his  bill  to  extend  government  aid  to  the 
common  schools  of  the  South  are  among  the  most  carefully  prepared  and  con- 
clusive ai-guments  on  that  subject.  When  the  financial  policy  of  the  country 
became  a  subject  of  discussion,  and  many  of  its  strongest  minds  were  carried 
from  their  moorings  by  the  (xreenback  cyclone.  Senator  Blair  stood  sturdily  for 
an  honest  currency  and  strict  honesty  in  dealing  with  the  government  crculitors, 
and  by  his  speeches  in  congress  and  on  the  stump  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  triumph  of  tht)se  ])rinciples  and  the  incidental  success  of  the  Republican 
party.  The  veteran  soldier  has  always  found  in  him  a  friend  who  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity to  speak  and  vote  for  the  most  liberal  pension  laws,  and  who  never  tired 
in  responding  to  individual  calls  for  assistance  at  the  department.  His  other 
service  as  a  senator  has  been  most  conspicuous  in  his  speeches  against  the  Texas 
Pacific  Railroad  Subsidies,  upon  Foreign  Markets  and  Commerce,  Election  Frauds 
in  the  South,  the  Exodus  of  Colored  People,  the  .Japanese  Indemnity  Fund,  the 
Public  Laud  Bill,  and  the  Commission  of  Incpiiry  into  the  Liquor  Traffic ;  his 
eulogies  upon  Henry  Wilson,  Zachariah  Chandler,  and  Evarts  W.  Farr ;  and  his 
reports  on  numerous  subjects  which  have  claimed  the  attention  of  his  committees. 
He  is  rarely  absent  from  his  seat,  and  when  present  never  declines  tcj  vote.  His 
first  term  expires  March  8,  1885. 

From  this  brief  sketch  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Blair  owes  his  exceptional 
success  in  life  to  no  extraneous  or  accidental  aids.  His  parents  were  poor,  and 
their  untimely  death  deprived  him  of  their  counsel  and  example.  His  boyhood 
was  a  struggle  with  poverty,  of  which  his  youth  was  only  a  continuance.  AH  he 
had,  he  earned.  What  he  became,  he  made  himself.  As  a  man,  he  has  shown 
great  capacity  for  work  and  a  disposition  to  do  his  best  in  every  position.  He  is 
always  intensely  in  earnest.  He  has  indomitable  perseverance  and  persistency, 
and  never  allows  his  abilities  to  rust  in  idleness.  He  is  an  outspoken  and  aggres- 
sive but  practical  reformer ;  a  radical  but  sagacious  Republican.  Though  his 
early  advantages  were  few,  he  has  been  a  voracious  reader  and  a  close  student, 
and  does  not  lack  for  the  help  which  familiarity  w4th  books  gives.  He  is  an  easy 
writer  and  a  fluent  speaker.  He  is  generous  to  a  fault ;  and  his  most  prominent 
weakness  is  a  disposition  to  magnify  his  obligations  to  his  friends. 

Senator  Blair  married  Eliza  Nelson,  the  daughter  of  a  Methodist  clergyman, 
of  Groton,  and  has  one  son,  —  Henry  Patterson  Blair,  —  aged  fourteen  years. 


RUFUS  A.  MAXFIELD. 


BY    J.    P. 


RuFUS  A.  Maxfield  was  born  in  Nashua,  N.  H.,  on  the  fifth  clay  of  March, 
1835.  His  father,  Stephen  C.  Maxfield,  was  a  native  of  Newbury,  Vt.,  was  mar- 
ried to  Clarissa  Staples,  a  native  of  Chichester,  N.  H.,  at  Nashua  N.  H.,  when 
the  now  populous  city  was  but  a  small  village.  There  were  ten  children  born  to 
them.  Four  died  quite  young ;  six  are  now  living,  viz. :  the  subject  of  this  sketch ; 
James  G.  Maxfield,  M.  D.,  surgeon  at  the  National  Home  for  disabled  volunteer 
soldiers  at  Togus,  Me. ;  J.  P.  Maxfield,  treasurer  of  the  Hiscox  File  Manufac- 
turing Company,  at  West  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  who  resides  in  Lowell,  Mass.; 
Stephen  W.  Maxfield,  a  mechanic,  now  living  in  Nashua ;  Susan  T.  and  Helen 
A. ;  the  former  married  and  resides  in  Wolfeborough,  N.  H.,  the  latter  in  Low- 
ell, Mass..  with  the  widowed  mother,  who  is  still  living  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy 
years.  Stephen  C,  the  father,  was  employed  for  seventeen  years  by  the  Nashua 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  was  a  faithful  servant  to  his  employers.  He  early 
became  identified  with  the  Methodist  denomination,  and  was  among  the  most 
zealous  workers  in  building  up  the  two  societies  in  those  early  days.  He  died  in 
Lowell,  Mass.,  August  10,  18G2,  having  lived  a  consistent  Christian  life,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-three  years. 

When"Rufus  was  eight  years  old  he  was  employed  in  the  carding  department 
of  the  Nashua  company's  mills  during  his  school  vacations.  It  was  here  that 
he  was  first  taught  the  rudiments  of  cotton-manufacture.  For  awhile  he  worked 
as  back  boy  in  the  mule-spinning  department.  In  18-4G  the  family  removed  to 
Lowell,  Mass.  After  attending  school  here  for  a  short  time  he  again  went  into 
the  mill  in  the  carding  department  on  the  Lawrence  corporation.  From  here  he 
was  transferred  to  the  mule-spinning  department.  In  1853  he  left  the  mill  tem- 
porarily to  attend  school  at  Northfield,  N.  H.,  where  he  remained  two  years,  when 
he  returned  to  the  mill  and  to  his  mule-spinning.  He  passed  through  the  vari- 
ous grades  until  he  reached  the  position  of  second  overseer.  He  was  married  on 
the  10th  of  May,  185G,  to  Mary  A.  Spaulding,  daughter  of  Joshua  Spaulding, 
of  Pepperell.  Mass. 

Soon  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  the  mills  of  Lowell 
suspended  operations,  and  thousands  were  thrown  out  of  employment,  Mr.  Max- 
field among  the  rest.  In  1863  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Naumkeag  Mill,  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  as  second  overseer  under  Charles  D.  McDuffie,  Esq.,  who  had 
charge  of  all  the  spinning  in  these  mills.  Mr.  McDuffie  is  now  agent  of  the 
Manchester  Mills,  Manchester,  N.  H.  Mr.  Maxfield  remained  in  the  employ  of 
the  Naumkeag  Mill  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when,  the  corporations  in  Lowell 
resuming  operations,  he  was  tendered  the  position  of  overseer  of  the  mule-spin- 
ning in  the  hosiery-mill  of  the  Lawrence  Manufacturing  Company,  who  were 
then  starting.  Here  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1866,  when  he  took  charge 
of  the  mule-spinning  in  number  five  mill,  then  the  largest  mill  owned  by  the 


290  RUFUS    A.    MAXFIELD. 

Lawrence  company.  During  the  latter  part  of  1868  he  had  charge  of  all  the 
spinning  in  this  mill. 

In  18(1!)  he  was  appointed  superintendent  of  Ida  Hill  Mill,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Under  adverse  circumstances,  with  a  mill  cramped  for  power,  and  with  old  ma- 
chinery very  much  out  of  repair,  he  was  very  successful,  earning  satisfactory 
profits  for  the  owners.  In  the  year  1872,  the  management  of  the  Tremont  and 
Suffolk  Mills  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  offered  him  the  position  of  superintendent  of 
their  large  mills,  where,  under  Thomas  S.  Shaw,  Escp,  agent,  he  remained  until 
1875.  During  his  connection  with  this  company,  the  quality  of  the  Canton 
flannels,  which  are  a  "  specialty  "  with  these  millsj  was  brought  up  to  a  standard 
that  made  them  rank  among  the  first  in  the  market,  commanding  ready  sales  and 
good  prices. 

The  directors  of  the  Nashua  Manufacturing  Company,  on  the  death  of  Oliver 
Hussey,  Esq.,  in  January,  1875,  i-ealizing  the  qualifications  of  Mr.  Maxfield  for 
such  a  position,  appointed  him  agent  of  their  large  mills  in  Nashua,  N.  H. 
During  Mr.  Maxfield's  administration  to  the  present  time,  there  have  been  ex- 
tensive alterations  and  improvements  in  the  direction  of  economy  of  manufacture 
and  increased  production,  so  that  the  reputation  of  the  company  that  owned  the 
model  mills  of  New  England  has  been  maintained.  Thus  we  find  the  boy  who 
at  eight  years  of  age  took  his  first  lesson  in  cotton-manufacture,  returning,  after 
the  lapse  of  thirty-two  years,  to  the  same  mills  as  agent.  Little  did  the  youth 
dream  what  thirty-two  years  would  bring  to  pass  in  his  career. 

Socially  Mr.  Maxfield  is  a  very  agreeable  gentleman  ;  and,  while  he  has  devoted 
his  energies  during  all  these  years  to  his  chosen  calling,  he  has  found  time  to  con- 
nect himself  by  social  ties  to  beneficiary  organizations,  thus  lending  his  influence 
to  the  great  work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  He  was  prominent  for  many  years 
in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  Mechanics  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  of  Lowell, 
Mass.,  passing  through  the  various  positions  until  now  he  is  one  of  the  "  Past 
Grands  "  of  this  lodge.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Pentucket  Lodge  of  Masons, 
Royal  Arch  Chapter,  Ahasuerus  Council,  and  Pilgrim  Commandry  of  that  city. 

He  is  a  regular  attendant  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  is  respected  by  the 
people  of  Nashua  for  his  upright  and  honorable  course  of  life.  He  is  prompt 
to  decide  questions  that  come  before  him  ;  but  his  decisions,  though  firm,  are 
tempered  with  that  affability  of  manner  which  relieves  them  of  much  of  the 
harshness  that  many  men  manifest.  .  May  he  be  spared  many  years  to  pursue  his 
favorite  calling  ;  and  may  the  day  be  far  distant  when  the  Nashua  Manufacturing- 
Company  shall  lose  his  services,  or  the  city  of  Nashua  lose  so  worthy  a  citizen. 


GEORGE  BURLEY  SPALDING,  D.  D. 


BY    REV.    A.  H.  QUINT,  1).  D. 


George  Burley  Spalding,  the  present  pastor  of  the  First  church  in 
Dover,  was  born  in  Montpelier,  Vt,  Aug'ust  11,  1835,  son  of  Dr.  James  and 
EUza  (Reed)  Spalding.  The  line  of  A)uerican  descent  on  the  paternal  side  was 
as  follows:  Edward,  of  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  immigrant ;  Benjamin,  whose  will 
was  proved  April  5,  1670  ;  Edward,  of  Canterbtiry,  Conn. ;  Ephraim,  of  Connecti- 
cut ;  Reuben,  of  Connecticut ;  Reuben,  who  married  Jerusha  Carpenter,  and 
lived  in  Sharon,  Vt.  ;  Dr.  James ;  and  Rev.  Gleorge  Burley. 

Deacon  Reuben  Spalding,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Vermont,  whose  life  was  not  more  remarkable  for  his  toils, 
privations,  and  energy  as  a  pioneer  in  a  new  country,  than  for  his  unbending 
Christian  integrity.  He  entered  Sharon  in  1769,  and  lived  on  the  same  farm 
eighty  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  church  sixty-one  years,  and  deacon  forty- 
two  years.  He  was  distinguished  for  "  the  best  qualities  of  the  old.  New  P]ng- 
land  Puritanism." 

Dr.  James  Spalding  was  the  third  of  twelve  children,  and  for  many  years  a 
successful  practitioner  of  medicine  in  Montpelier,  Vt.,  but  especially  eminent  in 
surgery.  He  graduated  at  the  Dartmouth  Medical  School  at  the  age  of  twenty 
years.  He  was  more  than  forty  years  a  member  of  the  Vermont  Medical  Society ; 
its  secretary  over  twenty  years,  its  president  in  1866,  1867,  and  1868.  "His 
life,"  says  a  printed  sketch,  "  was  that  of  the  good  Samaritan,  a  life  of  toil, 
prayer,  and  sympathy  for  others." 

By  the  line  of  Reed,  tlie  family  is  of  the  same  blood  with  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner 
Spring  and  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards  A.  Park.  The  grandmother  of  Dr.  George  B. 
Spalding,  and  the  grandfather  of  the  late  Senator  Matthew  H.  Carpenter,  were 
sister  and  brother. 

George  Burley  Spalding  was  the  seventh  of  nine  children.  He  fitted  for 
college  at  the  Washington  County  Academy,  Montpelier,  and  graduated  at  the 
University  of  Vermont  in  1856,  being  twenty -one  years  of  age.  He  read  law 
one  year  in  Montpelier,  with  Hon.  Charles  W.  Willard,  and  then  went  to  Talla- 
hassee, Fla.,  where  he  read  law  another  year  with  Judge  W.  C.  M.  Davis. 
While  in  the  South,  he  was  a  regular  correspondent  of  the  Neio  York  Courier 
and  Enquirer,  of  which  his  brother,  James  Reed  Spalding,  was  one  of  the 
editors.  As  such  he  attended  the  noted  Southern  commercial  convention  in  Sa- 
vannah, in  1858,  where  Yancey,  Rhett,  Barnwell,  and  DeBow  poured  out  their  hot 
invective.  In  the  following  year  he  mingled  with  the  great  southern  leaders,  on 
the  eve  of  the  great  events  which  were  soon  to  burst  upon  the  country.  Doubt- 
less in  his  law  study  and  in  his  intercourse  with  men  in  different  phases  of  society, 
he  acquired  that  practical  acquaintance  with  human  nature  which  makes  available 
his  instinctive  and  common-sense  power  of  meeting  all  classes  of  men. 


292  GEORGE   BURLEY   SPALDING,    D.  D. 

Flattering  off(!rs  were  made  him  by  Judge  Davis  to  remain  and  enter  into 
practi(!e  with  that  eminent  lawyer,  at  a  large  assured  income.  But  Mr.  Spalding 
had  already  changed  his  purpose  for  life.  He  returned  North,  abandoned  the 
law,  and  began  the  study  of  theology  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
York  city  in  1858.  Here  he  remained  two  years.  Here,  also,  he  did  regular 
editorial  work  on  the  New  York  World,  of  which  his  brother  was  founder, 
and  subsequently  wrote  for  the  columns  of  the  New  Yorh  Times.  This  expe- 
rience enabled  him,  later,  to  write,  for  five  years,  a  large  portion  of  the  editorial 
leaders  of  the  Watchman  (ind  Reflector.  While  in  Union  Seminary,  his  spirit 
of  independence  and  industry  was  so  strong  that  he  supported  himself  entirely  by 
his  literary  work.  Leaving  New  York,  he  entered  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary, where,  after  one  year's  study,  he  graduated  in  18()1.  On  the  5th  of  October 
of  that  year  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Vergennes, 
Vt.,  a  position  to  which  he  had,  in  fact,  b(X^n  called  before  his  graduation,  as  well 
as  to  another  field.  He  resigned  his  successful  pastorate  at  Vergennes,  August 
1,  1864,  to  accept  a  call  to  the  Park  church,  Hartford,  Conn.,  formerly  Dr. 
Bushnell's,  where  he  was  installed  Se})tember  28.  He  resigned  that  charge,  and 
was  dismissed  IMarch  23,  18()1),  and  was  installed  |)ast(n-  of  the  First  church  in 
Dover,  September  1,  following. 

This  church  is  the  second  in  point  of  age  in  this  state,  being  organized  in 
December,  1(588,  and  preceded  by  Hampton  only.  The  old  Exeter  First  church 
itself  later,  became  extinct  in  1642,  and  the  present  First  church  of  Exeter  dates 
from  1698  only.  The  Dover  First  j)ar(',sA  dates  from  October,  1633,  and  is  un- 
questionably the  oldest  in  New  Hampshire.  A  long  line  of  able  men  has  been 
on  the  roll  of  the  pastors  of  that  venerable  church.  Under  none  has  it  been  so 
strong  and  so  influential  as  under  Dr.  Spalding.  Its  numbers  have  largely  in- 
creased ;  its  pews  are  at  a  constant  premium ;  its  pew-occupants  number  men  of 
the  highest  distinction  in  the  state.  Three  years  since,  the  whole  of  the  hand- 
some church  edifice  was  refitted  at  an  expense  of  over  twelve  thousand  dollars, 
besides  the  amount  necessary  to  purchase  the  pew  property,  and  no  debt  remains. 
An  elegant  and  commodious  parsonage  has  also  been  purchased  and  paid  for. 
Without  disparagement  to  others,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  public  opinion  accords  to 
Mr.  Spalding  a  foremost  place  among  the  ministers  of  New  Hampshire.  Certainly 
no  pastor  of  the  ancient  First  church  ever  had  a  greater  public  respect  or  a 
deeper  personal  aftection.  His  administration  of  a  strong  and  thinking  society 
goes  on  without  even  a  ripple.  He  has  been  frequently  called  to  attend  distant 
councils,  some  of  great  and  even  national  interest,  and  some  where  delicate  ques- 
tions required  the  wisest  consideration  ;  and  in  all  cases  his  calm  and  deliberate 
judgment  has  had  an  influence  inferior  to  none.  One  of  these  was  the  great 
Brooklyn  Council,  of  national  interest,  in  1876. 

In  his  preaching,  one  has  to  study  him  to  get  the  secret  of  his  influence. 
There  is  nothing  in  it  to  startle.  There  is  no  dramatic  exhibition.  It  is  the  far- 
thest possible  from  the  sensational.  There  are  never  any  protruding  logical  bones. 
He  never  indulges  in  any  prettinesses  of  diction.  But  a  critical  analysis  (the  last 
thing  one  thinks  of  in  listening  to  him)  reveals  the  elements  of  his  power.  His 
themes  are  always  elevated  themes.  One  sees  the  most  earnest  convictions  held 
in  perfect  independence  and  honesty ;  a  natural  development  of  thought  in  an 
always  fresh  and  orderly  way  ;  a  diction  as  clear  as  a  pellucid  brook  ;  illustra- 
tions drawn  from  wide  observation,  always  simple  and  frequently  beautiful ;  a 
genial,  sometimes  intense,  glow  pervading  his  whole  discourse ;  and  a  dignified 
but  simple  manliness  throughout.  Fully  six  feet  in  height,  and  with  liberally  de- 
veloped physique,  he  impresses  one  at  first  mainly  with  the  idea  of  manly 
streno-th.     But  it  takes  no  "reat  time  to  see   that  commanding  intellectual  abili- 


GEORGE    BURLEY    SPALDING,    1).  D.  293 

ties  arc  fully  parallel  with  his  ph3*si((ue ;  and  those  who  hear  him,  and  especially 
those  who  know  him,  find  an  equal  development  of  a  generous  nature  which  in- 
clines always  to  sympathy,  and  with  which  he  answers,  in  public  and  private,  to 
every  appeal  to  his  helpful  power.  In  doctrine  he  is  understood  to  hold  the 
main  tenets  of  what  is  called  old  theology,  but  as  forces  rather  than  dogmas,  and 
liberally  instead  of  severely  applied. 

Mr.  Spalding's  literary  work  has  been  extensive,  but  mainly  upon  current 
newspaper  periodicals.  This  has  given  him,  of  course,  a  valuable  directness  and 
clearness  of  expression.  A  few  sermons  and  other  productions  have  been  pub- 
lished :  A  sermon  on  God's  Presence  and  Purpose  in  the  War,  November  26 
1S63 ;  a  discourse  commemorative  of  Gen.  Samuel  P.  Strong,  February  28,  1864 
a  discourse  on  the  25(>th  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  Dover,  May  18,  1873 
a  discourse  commemorative  of  the  character  and  career  of  Hon.  John  P.  Hale, 
November  27,  1873,  which  the  poet  Whittier  characterized  in  the  highest 
terms,  —  a  fine  specimen  of  judicious  analysis,  in  which  he  does  justice  to  the 
pioneer  of  the  anti-slavery  cause  in  the  United  States  senate, —  a  justice  now  lately 
apparently  purposely  ignored  out  of  a  desire  to  magnify  a  brilliant  but  later  laborer. 
The  Relation  of  the  Church  to  Children,  November  6,  1873.  The  Dover  Pulpit 
in  the  Revolution,  July  9,  1876, —  for  which  he  searched  and  well  iised  the  man- 
uscript of  his  eminent  ^predecessor.  Dr.  Jeremy  Relknap.  The  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  organization  of  the  Conference  of  Churches  of  Strafl["ord  county,  June 
18,  1878.  The  Idea  and  Necessity  of  Normal-School  Training,  December  26, 
1878.  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  State  Normal  School,  June,  1879. 
Memorial  on  the  Death  of  Garfield,  September,  1881.  Historical  discourse 
on  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Piscataqua  Association,  October  26, 
1881.  On  the  death  of  Wells  Waldron,  November  13,  1881.  On  the  death  of 
John  Riley  Varney,  May  5,  1882. 

In  addition,  however,  to  his  other  work,  he  has  been,  and  is,  the  editor  of 
the  Neir  Hamjjshire  Journal,  a  successful  weekly  in  the  interest  of  the  Congre- 
gational churches,  from  which  some  of  his  keen  editorials  have  met  with  favor 
throughoixt  the  country. 

Mr.  Spalding  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  New  Hamp- 
shire which  met  January  8,  1877.  He  represented  Dover  in  the  New  Hampshire 
house  of  representatives  in  1877.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  the  state  normal 
school,  by  appointment  of  the  governor  and  council,  his  first  appointment,  for 
two  years,  being  made  in  1876,  and  his  chairmanship  of  that  board  commencing 
soon  after  and  now  continuing.  He  became  a  member  of  the  school  committee 
of  Dover  in  1875,  and  still  continues,  having  been  its  chairman  from  1876.  He 
was  chosen  trustee  and  one  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Missionary  Society  in  1873;  and  still  retains  each  position.  He  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1878. 

Dr.  Spalding  married  Sarah  Livingston,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  W, 
Olmstead,  manager  and  editor  of  the  W((fchiiia}i  and  Rejiector;  her  mother, 
Mary,  was  daughter  of  Richard  Montgomery  Livingston,  a  lawyer  of  Saratoga, 
N.  Y.  Their  children  are  Mary  Livingston,  Martha  Reed,  Catherine  Olm- 
stead (who  died  August  29,  1881,  aged  fourteen),  Gertrude  Parker,  and  George 
Brown. 


JAMES  F.  BRIGGS. 


HV    irKNRY    M.    IMTNKV. 


John  and  Nancy  (Franklin)  Brigg.s  were  of  that  class  of  working  English- 
men who  had  the  courage  to  flee  from  hard  surroundings  which  no  strength  could 
overcome,  and  seek  in  a  new  world,  among  strangers,  a  chance  to  improve  their 
condition.  They  were  factory  operatives  at  Bury,  Lancashire  county,  England, 
where  their  son  .James  F.  was  born,  October  2:^,  1827.  When  he  was  fourteen 
months  old  they  took  passage  on  an  emigrant  ship  for  America,  and  after  a  rough 
voyage  of  more  than  seven  weeks  landed  in  Bcston,  March  4,  1829.  Going- 
direct  to  Andover,  Mass.,  the  father  found  employment  in  a  woolen-factory  there. 
From  that  place  he  removed  to  Saugus,  where  he  worked  a  short  time,  and  from 
thence  to  Amesbury,  which  was  the  family  home  until  188(5.  In  the  fall  of 
that  year  the  father,  in  company  with  two  brothers,  bought  a  small  woolen-fac- 
tory at  Holderness,  now  Ashland.  N.  H.,  and,  having  established  his  home  near 
by,  commenced  business  on  his  own  account,  in  manufacturing  woolen  cloths. 
But  few  operatives  were  needed  to  run  this  mill,  and  they  were  mainly  the  three 
proprietors  and  their  children,  among  whom  was  the  boy  James,  then  a  lad  nine 
years  old,  who  had  begun  to  <3arn  his  living  in  a  factory  before  the  removal  from 
Massachusetts,  the  family  circumstances  being  such  that  all  had  to  contribute  to 
its  support  as  soon  as  they  were  able.  He  was  continuously  employed  in  the 
mill  for  the  next  five  years ;  but  during  this  time  he  had  learned  enough  of 
books  to  make  him  ambitious  to  know  more;  and,  as  the  affairs  of  the  family  were 
fairly  prosperous,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  the  academy  at  Newbury, 
Yt.,  and  afterwards  to  the  one  at  Tilton.  Being  an  expert  operative,  able  to 
take  the  wool  from  the  fleece  and  convert  it  into  cloth,  by  working  in  the  factory 
a  })art  of  each  year  he  earned  the  money  to  pay  his  expenses  at  these  institu- 
tions one  or  more  terms  every  year  until  1848,  when  he  arranged  to  commence 
the  study  of  law  with  Hon.  William  C.  Thompson,  at  Plymouth  ;  but  in  Feb- 
ruary of  that  year  his  father  died  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  were  younger  than  James,  in  destitute  circumstances.  This  affliction, 
which  threw  the  care  of  the  family  largely  upon  the  young  man,  compelled  him 
to  change  somewhat  his  plans ;  but  he  did  not  for  a  moment  lose  sight  of  the 
object  he  had  in  view,  and,  as  he  could  not  enter  the  law  office  at  Plymouth,  he 
l)orrowed  books  from  it  and  pursued  his  studies  during  such  time  as  he  could  get 
at  home,  for  a  year,  when  he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  Joseph  Burrows,  then  a 
practicing  lawyer  at  Holderness. 

In  1849  the  family  removed  to  Fisherville,  in  order  that  the  younger  children 
might  obtain  employment  in  the  factory  there,  and  he  completed  his  studies  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Butler,  from  which  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1851.  A 
few  months  later  he  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Hillsborough  Bridge, 
whither  he  went  a  perfect  stranger,  without  money  or  reputation.  But  he  had 
ability  and  energy,  was  willing  to  work,  knew  how  to  live  within  a  small  income 


^w^'^  ^rCujiu 


v^o  o~-^ 


JAMES    F.    BRTGGS.  295 

until  he  could  make  it  larger,  and  little  by  little  he  gained  clients  and  friends, 
who  gave  him  a  lucrative  practice,  accepted  his  counsel,  followed  his  leadership, 
and  established  his  reputation  as  the  most  popular  and  influential  man  of  the 
town.  In  1856,  1857,  and  1858,  he  was  sent  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote  to 
represent  Hillsborough  in  the  legislature,  where  he  was  at  once  accorded  a  promi- 
nent position  as  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee,  and  the  third  year  was 
honored  by  the  nomination  of  his  party  for  the  speakership.  At  this  time  he 
acted  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  the  war  of  the 
rebellion,  when  he  felt  that  all  loyal  men  should  unite  to  save  the  Union  and 
maintain  the  national  authority,  and,  having  been  nominated  by  the  Democracy 
of  his  district  for  councilor  upon  a  platform  which  enunciated  peace-at-any-price 
doctrines,  to  which  he  could  not  assent,  he  declined  the  nomination,  and  from 
that  day  has  been  an  ardent,  active,  and  enthusiastic  Republican. 

While  the  Eleventh  Regiment  was  being  recruited,  he  tendered  his  services  tti 
the  governor  of  the  state  and  was  appointed  quartermaster  on  the  stafi"  of  Col. 
Harriman.  In  this  capacity  he  served  through  the  battles  of  Fredericksburg, 
the  military  operations  in  Kentucky,  and  the  Mississippi-river  expeditions  which 
resulted  in  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  Jackson,  for  about  a  year,  when  he  was 
prostrated  by  the  malaria  of  the  southern  swamps,  and  compelled  to  resign  and 
return  to  his  home  in  Hillsborough. 

During  his  absence  in  the  field,  and  the  illness  which  succeeded  his  return, 
his  legal  business  had  become  somewhat  demoralized,  and  on  the  recovery  of  his 
health  he  concluded  to  start  anew  in  a  wider  field  of  action  in  Manchester,  to 
which  city  he  removed  in  1871,  forming  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Henry  H.  Huse, 
which  still  exists.  Manchester  gave  him  a  cordial  welcome.  Her  mill  operatives 
and  other  mechanics  greeted  him  as  an  honored  graduate  of  their  school,  who  in 
his  after  triumphs  had  never  forgotten  the  hard  road  by  which  he  had  journeyed 
to  success ;  her  lawyers  and  clients  were  already  well  acquainted  with  his  pro- 
fessional abilities ;  her  soldiers  recognized  him  as  an  old  companion  in  arms,  and 
her  politicians  as  an  earnest  Republican  who  could  and  would  be  a  tower  of 
strength  in  every  campaign.  Under  these  circumstances  he  did  not  have  to  wait 
for  business  or  political  preferment.  Soon  after  opening  his  office  he  was  ap- 
pointed city  solicitor,  and  in  187-4  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  from  ward 
three.  Two  years  later  he  was  chosen  senator  from  the  Manchester  district,  and 
in  the  same  year  was  sent  to  the  constitutional  convention. 

In  all  these  positions  he  won  reputation  and  friends  to  such  an  extent  that  in 
1877  he  was  nominated  for  congress  without  substantial  opposition,  and  elected  by 
a  large  majority.  At  the  exjjiration  of  his  first  term  he  was  unanimously  renomi- 
nated, and  after  an  exciting  campaign  was  re-elected  by  a  majority  of  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  over  the  combined  Democratic  and  Greenback  vote.  Two 
years  afterwards  it  became  a  question  whether  he  should  be  returned.  The  tra- 
ditions and  prejudices  of  the  district  were  strongly  against  a  third  term.  Four 
other  able  and  deserving  men  were  ambitious  to  succeed  him.  and  he  declined  to 
push  for  the  nomination,  but  accepted  a  call  to  take  the  stump  in  Maine,  leaving 
it  for  his  friends  to  determine  whether  his  name  should  be  used  in  the  convention. 
To  one  of  these,  who  wrote  him  that  he  ought  to  return  from  Maine  and  attend 
to  his  canvass,  he  replied:  "  I  am  assured  that  I  can  be  of  considerable  service 
here,  and,  as  it  is  of  vastly  more  importance  that  the  cause  shall  triumph  in  this 
state  next  Monday  than  that  I  shall  be  renominated,  I  must  remain  and  trust 
to  you  and  others  to  decide  whether  it  is  best  to  send  me  back  to  Washington. 
Whatever  that  decision  may  be,  I  shall  be  satisfied."  The  convention  met  just 
after  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  party  in  Maine,  and  when  it  appeared  that  there 
was  only  a  desperate  chance  for  its  nominee  to  be  elected.     It  decided  that  if  any 


296  JAMES    F.    BIIIGGS. 

man  could  .succeed  he  could,  and  a  few  days  after  he  took  the  stump.  Manches- 
ter, which  was  counted  a  dctubtful  city  when  the  convention  assembled,  gave  him 
more  than  eight  hundred  majority,  and  the  rest  of  the  district  swelled  this  to 
fourteen  hundred  and  eighty. 

In  congress,  Mr.  Briggs  has  been  from  the  first  a  faithful,  hard-working 
member,  always  in  his  seat,  tireless  in  serving  his  constituents,  especially  the  vet- 
eran soldiers,  and  conscientiously  devoted  to  the  discharge  of  all  his  duties.  In 
the  forty-fifth  congress  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  Patents  ;  in  the 
forty-sixth,  of  the  committee  on  Naval  Affairs ;  and  in  the  present,  the  forty- 
seventh,  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Expenditures  in  the  War  Department, 
and  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  and  Reform  in  the  Civil  Service.  No  luembcr  of 
the  house  commands  a  more  perfect  confidence  in  his  associates,  and  few,  if  any, 
are  able  to  accomjilish  so  much.  He  succeeds  at  Washington  as  he  did  at  home, 
by  quiet,  patient,  persistent  work,  and  is  satisfied  with  results  rather  than  with 
brilliant  outbursts  and  noisy  exhibitions  of  his  rhetorical  powers. 

Mr.  Briggs  married  Roxana  Smith,  the  daughter  of  Obadiah  and  Eliza  M. 
Smith,  of  New  Hampton,  and  has  had  three  children,  all  of  whom  are  living. 
The  oldest,  a  son,  was  educated  at  West  Point,  and  served  four  years  in  the 
army,  when  he  resigned,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  business  in 
Trenton,  N.  J.     Two  daughters  reside  with  their  parents  in  INIaiichester. 

In  concluding  this  brief  sketch,  written  without  the  knowledge  of  its  subject, 
the  author  feels  that  it  will  fail  to  satisfy  those  who  have  known  Mr.  Briggs 
intimately  without  some  direct  reference  to  the  qualities  which  characterize  him 
in  all  positions  in  life.  Prominent  among  these  are  his  j)erfect  fidelity,  industry, 
steady  courage,  and  thoroughness.  It  is  natural  for  him  to  be  true,  impossible 
for  him  to  be  false.  He  is  ambitious,  and  few  prize  more  highly  the  honors  they 
win  ;  but  he  is  incapable  of  the  duplicity,  demagogy,  and  all  the  cheap  artifices  by 
which  some  men  succeed.  His  faithfulness  to  his  convictions  does  not  count  cost 
or  query  about  conse((uences  to  himself.  He  is  as  stanch  and  true  a  friend  as  ever 
lived,  and  he  never  cheats  those  whom  he  dislikes  or  despises.  His  generosity 
and  devotion  to  his  family  are  far-reaching  and  untiring.  He  is  a  public-spirited 
citizen,  a  kind  neighbor,  and  a  pleasant  companion.  He  is  always  approachable, 
patient,  and  considerate.  In  every  cause  in  which  he  enlists  he  is  a  hard  worker 
and  a  free  giver.  He  knows  how  to  wait,  and  how  to  look  beyond  temporary 
reverses  to  the  complete  triumph  which  he  always  believes  wdll  crown  and  estab- 
lish the  right.  He  never  frets,  and  never  rests  until  the  result  is  secure.  His 
private  life  is  without  a  stain,  and  the  fierce  light  of  the  hottest  campaign  has 
disclosed  no  shadow  of  a  blot  upon  his  public  record.  His  sympathies  are  with 
the  people,  and  his  head  and  hands  are  controlled  by  his  heart.  These  qualities 
have  made  James  F.  Briggs  what  he  is.  They  have  supplied  the  place  of  early 
advantages,  influential  friends,  and  fortune.  They  have  carried  him  from  the 
woolen-mill;  working  for  a  few  cents  a  day,  to  the  national  house  of  representa- 
tives, commissioned  to  speak  and  act  for  the  largest  and  richest  district  in  New 
Hampshire.  They  have  made  him  strong  at  the  bar,  popular  at  the  polls,  and 
influential  in  congress. 


it^ 


NATHANIEL  WENTWORTH  CUMNER. 


BY    J.    W.    FELLOAVS. 


The  ancestors  of  the  Ciimner  family  were  of  English  origin.  The  name  is 
first  discovered  in  the  period  following  the  supremacy  of  the  Norman  rule,  — 
the  return  from  the  dynasty  of  the  Conqueror  to  the  ascendency  of  the  English- 
Saxon  line.  It  was  first  spelled  Comnor,  and  later  Cumnor,  meaning  "hospi- 
tality to  strangers,  "  or  a  "  place  of  hospitality,"  and  comes  through  the  Saxon 
branch.  To  this  period  may  be  referred  the  formation  of  many  English  family 
names,  —  often  derived  from  some  unimportant  circumstance,  or  suggested  by 
personal  characteristics.  These  became  marks  of  distinction,  new  titles  to  man- 
hood, and  were  proudly  bequeathed  by  father  to  son, —  "  inherited  sur-names." 

During  the  century  following  the  loss  of  Normandy,  the  Anglo-Saxon,  as  a 
written  language,  having  been  banished  from  courts  and  superseded  in  all  legal 
papers  by  the  Latin,  became  dearer  to  the  common  people  as  a  spoken  language, 
preserving  their  cherished  objects  and  transmitting  leading  sentiments.  It  in- 
creased its  power  and  volume  by  building  new  terms  and  means  of  expression, 
and  particularly  by  multiplying  its  patronymics.  In  a  comparatively  short  space 
of  time  the  language  had  become  vernacular,  and  fairly  entitled  to  be  styled 
English,  rich  in  the  idioms  and  proper  names  of  its  own  creation  and  out-growth. 

"  The  history  of  words,"  says  Trench,  "  is  the  history  of  ideas,  '  and  he 
might  have  said  of  people  and  nations.  They  are  not  only  the  "  vehicle  of 
thought,"  but  they  tell  anew  the  story  of  their  times  and  enrich  the  great  body 
of  history  with  countless  incidents  of  value  and  importance.  In  studying  their 
genealogy,  the  English-speaking  people  find  the  starting-point  of  many  an  illu.>-- 
trious  name  in  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  those  medieval  times,  — the  natural 
product  of  the  mingling  of  different  tongues,  and  the  constant  struggle  between 
feudalism  and  servitude. 

The  famous  old  manor-house,  Cumnor  Castle,  so  celebrated  in  romance,  once 
enjoyed  the  rent-fee  and  service  of  a  large  body  of  retainers,  and  carried  for 
many  a  year,  by  reason  of  its  feudal  allotments,  a  numerous  vassalage.  Its  walls 
have  long  since  fallen  into  shapeless  ruins,  but  the  lands  of  its  tenantry  now 
embrace  the  beautiful  village  of  Cumner.  The  fiimilies  bearing  this  name  have 
not  been  numerous  in  England,  but  have  maintained  their  lineage  with  remark- 
able directness.  The  earliest  trace  of  these  people  shows  that  they  belonged  to 
the  industrial  classes, —  the  guilds-people,  who  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  had  attained  such  prominence  as  to  nearly  control  the  business  interests 
of  the  great  metropolis,  and  to  whom  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  was  pleased  to 
say  on  a  memorable  occasion,  '■  While  our  gracious  nobility  are  the  leaf  and 
flower  of  the  kingdom,  ye  are  the  sturdy  trunk  and  branches." 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  belongs  to  the  third  generation  in  America.  His 
grandfather  Robert  Francis  Cumner  came  to  this  country  when  about  fifteen 
years  of  age,  under  circumstances  of  a  very  interesting  character.  In  June, 
20 


298  NATHANIEL    WENTWORTH    CUMNER. 

1774,  while  walkinii-  in  the  streets  of  London,  he  was  seized  by  a  "  gang  of  press- 
men "  from  the  ship  Somerset,  sent  out  to  recruit  liis  Majesty's  marine.  He 
was  carried  directly  on  board,  forced  to  become  one  of  the  crew,  and  do  the  duty 
of  a  common  sailor.  He  was  not  allowed  the  })rivilege  of  communicating  with 
his  friends,  and  no  tidings  from  him  or  knowledge  of  his  situation  were  received 
during  the  long  cruise  of  the  Somerset  in  distant  waters,  until  she  appeared  in 
Boston  harbor  and  took  i)art  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Her  position  and 
the  service  she  rendered  the  British  troops  on  that  memorable  day  are  well  known 
in  history.  From  her  decks  came  the  first  fatal  shot,  and  under  the  fire  of  her 
guns  the  broken  and  retreating  ranks  of  royalists  found  protection. 

The  scenes  of  that  bloody  struggle  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  mind 
of  young  Cuniner,  and  fixi'd  his  determination  to  take  no  part  in  the  work  of 
subjugation.  Circumstances  fortunately  soon  favored  his  .settled  purpose.  The 
Somerset  not  long  after  the  battle  "  got  aground,'  probably  somewhere  in  the 
lower  part  of  Massachusetts  bay.  l)uring  their  efforts  to  get  afloat,  some  of  the 
crew  went  ashore,  among  them  the  Cumner  boy,  who  immediately  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  escape  from  his  unwilling  service.  While  following  the 
highway  into  which  he  first  came,  near  the  shore  where  lay  the  stranded  Somer- 
set he  was  overtaken  by  a  Quaker  on  horseback,  who,  learning  his  situation  and 
purpose  to  obtain  his  freedom  from  the  "  British  yoke,"  invited  our  young  hero 
to  "get  up  behind,"  and,  throwing  his  gray  cloak  over  the  lad,  soon  carried  him 
beyond  the  king's  power. 

He  settled  in  Wareham,  3Iass.,  learned  the  tailor's  trade  and  began  the  })er- 
manent  business  of  his  life.  October  20,  1785,  he  married  Miss  Sylvia  Sturte- 
vant,  whose  family  cormections  were  very  worthy  and  highly  respected.  Her 
father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  Kevolution.  and  fell  on  the  battle-field 
fighting  for  independence.  The  Sturtevant  people  have  received  honorable  men- 
tion in  the  annals  of  history,  and  their  name  is  written  among  those  who  deserve 
well  of  their  country.  Not  long  after  his  marriage  he  moved  to  Sandwich,  Mass., 
from  that  place  to  Wayne,  in  the  state  of  Maine,  where  he  resided  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  successful  in  business  and  became  a  prominent 
and  highly  respected  citizen.  He  was  a  man  of  modest  and  retiring  habits  and 
exemplary  character,  but  of  indomitable  will  and  inflexil)le  adherence  to  what  he 
believed  to  be  right.  If  his  life  were  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  we  could  fill  it 
with  incidents  showing  his  remarkable  tenacity  of  purpose.  Robert  Francis  and 
Sylvia  Cumner  had  two  children,  —  John,  born  January  10,  1788,  and  Polly,  a 
few  years  younger.  He  died  February  5,  1825,  and  his  wife.  March  26.  1826, 
and  their  remains  were  interred  in  the  Evergreen  cemetery  in  Wayne. 

John  Cumner  was  but  a  few  months  old  when  the  family  moved  from  Sand- 
wich, Mass.,  to  Wayne.  He  was  of  a  sanguine  active  nature  and  earl}"  evinced 
the  character  of  a  sincere  and  zealous  worker  in  religious  matters.  He  obtained 
a  fair  education,  and  although  to  a  certain  extent  compelled  to  work  on  the  farm 
and  devote  himself  to  that  kind  of  employment,  his  thoughts  ran  upon  matters 
more  congenial  to  his  nature.  When  about  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was  em- 
ployed by  Gen.  Landsell  to  take  charge  of  his  farm  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  where 
he  remained  several  summer  seasons.  During  this  time  he  became  acquainted 
with  Miss  Hannah  Thomas  Bartlett,  of  Bridgewater,  whom  he  married  July  11, 
1813.  He  settled  in  Wayne,  upon  the  farm  which  became  the  homestead,  and 
was  so  occupied  by  the  family  during  his  many  years  of  labor  and  life  in  the 
ministry. 

He  was  associated  with  the  society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and 
interested  in  the  aflairs  of  that  denomination,  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen  years, 
and  soon  after  appointed  a  class  leader  and  licensed  to  preach.     His  labors  were 


NATHANIEL    WENTWORTH    CUMNER.  299 

attended  with  marked  success,  and  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  general  confer- 
ence for  Maine,  in  183o,  he  was  admitted  to  membership  and  received  his  first 
appointment.  He  continued  in  the  active  ministry  until  1852.  when  failing  health 
obliged  him  to  cease  labor;  but  his  love  for  the  church  and  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
its  established  creeds  continued  unabated  during  his  remaining  years.  He  died 
February  5,  1861,  closing  a  life  of  industry  and  devotion,  in  which  he  had  accom- 
plished more  good  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  man.  His  wife  died  December  5, 
1852.  She  was  very  beautiful  when  young,  and  was  much  beloved  and  admired 
by  her  wide  circle  of  friends.  Possessed  of  an  earnest  and  devotional  nature,  she 
entered  with  ardent  sympathy  into  the  plans  and  labors  of  her  husband  ;  faith- 
fully bearing  her  share  of  life's  varied  duties. —  firmly  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and 
with  amiable  companionship  when  prosperity  filled  the  measure  of  their  ambition. 
They  had  eleven  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Three  others  have 
deceased, —  Maryetta  in  1871,  and  Francis  and  James  in  1881.  The  remaining 
members  of  the  famih'  are  Cathamander,  William  B..  John  T.,  Nathaniel  W., 
Charles  W.,  and  Benjamin  G.  Cumner. 

Nathaniel  AVentworth,  the  youngest  but  two  of  the  children  of  John 
and  Hannah  T.  Cumner,  was  born  at  Wayne,  November  28,  1829.  His  early 
life  was  devoted  to  obtaining  an  education  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home,  passing 
from  the  district  to  the  private  school  in  the  town  of  Wayne,  and  to  other  schools 
and  seminaries  in  the  circuit  where  his  father's  appointments  were  made.  During 
some  portion  of  the  season,  for  a  few  j^ears  he  assisted  the  older  brothers  in  culti- 
vating the  homestead  farm,  but  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  to  Wilton,  Me., 
and  engaged  in  learning  the  tailor's  trade.  He  remained  there  about  three  years ; 
then  went  to  Waltham,  Mass.,  staying  there  about  one  year  and  a  half;  then  to 
Lowell,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  1851,  when  he  came  to  Manchester,  N.  H., 
and  entered  the  employ  of  B.  F.  Manning,  then  doing  business  in  the  store  occu- 
pied in  later  years  by  the  firm  of  Cumner  &  Conijiany. 

In  Januar}",  1854,  Mr.  Cumner  became  a  partner  in  the  busine.ss  of  mer- 
chant tailors  and  clothiers,  the  firm  name  being  Manning  &  Cumner.  This  ar- 
rangement continued  until  August,  1857.  Mr.  Cumner  then  withdrew  and  went 
to  Washington,  D.  C,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  F.  Tenney  &  Co.,  proprietors 
of  the  National  Hotel.  In  August,  1859,  he  returned  to  Manchester  and  pur- 
chased the  stock  and  "good  will'"  of  the  Manning  store,  and  entered  at  once 
into  business,  in  which  he  continued  as  the  sole  proprietor  until  18G5,  when  his 
brother  Benjamin  Gr.  Cumner  became  associated  with  him.  forming  the  copartner- 
ship of  Cumner  c^'  Company.  At  this  time  Mr.  Cumner  became  also  a  member 
of  the  well  known  wholesale  house  of  Sibley,  Cumner,  A:  Co.,  in  Boston,  having 
purchased  an  interest  in  the  old  house  of  Foster  &  Sibley,  and  devoted  his  atten- 
tion largely  to  the  wholesale  trade.  In  1868,  Lyman  E.  Sibley  retired  and  Mr. 
Cunmer  became  the  senior  member,  the  name  of  the  firm  remaining  the  same. 

In  the  great  fire  of  November  9,  1872,  their  establishment  was  among  the 
first  to  be  burned,  and  the  firm  suifered  a  total  loss  of  th^ir  immense  stock  ;  but 
their  credit  was  so  strong,  and  their  energy  and  ability  so  wddely  recognized,  that 
their  business  received  no  check,  and  the  transactions  of  the  house  proceeded 
even  upon  a  more  extensive  scale  than  before.  In  1879  the  firm  became 
Cunmer,  Jones,  &  Co.,  which  is  the  present  style  of  the  business.  In  1881  he 
sold  his  interest  in  the  business  of  Cumner  &  Co.  in  Manchester,  which  had  en- 
joyed unvarying  success  and  great  prosperity  from  the  beginning;  and  from  that 
time  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  Boston  house.  The  business  had  so  largely 
increased  that  it  became  necessary  to  give  it  his  constant  personal  attention.  The 
reputation  of  Cumner,  Jones,  ct  Co..  in  commercial  circles,  has  become  widely 
known,  and  its  remarkable  success  an  acknowledged  fact. 


300  NATHANIEL    AVENTWORTH    CUMNEK. 

Mr.  Cumner  lias  been  eminently  successful  as  a  business  man.  Possessing 
in  a  larije  de";ree  self-reliance  and  confidence  in  his  own  iudoment,  he  selected 
an  honorable  callint;'  and  devoted  himself  to  its  duties  and  demands.  He 
believed  that  industry  and  perseverance,  with  well  matured  plans,  were  certain 
to  produce  the  most  desirable  results.  He  knew  the  energy  and  fidi'lity  of  his 
own  character,  and  trusted  to  the  safety  of  sound  principle ;  and  he  has  proved 
that  his  plans  were  wisely  laid  and  his  ways  well  chosen.  At  a  comparatively 
early  age  he  has  accpiired  a  competence,  and  in  his  position  of  senior  member  of 
one  of  the  soundest  and  most  prosperous,  and  at  the  same  time  conservative, 
wholesale  houses  in  New  England,  his  influence  is  always  in  favor  of  that  healthy 
and  reliable  condition  of  trade  which  establishes  public  confidence  and  guarantees 
.general  prosperity. 

And  not  only  in  connection  with  his  partnership  associations  is  Mr.  Cunmer 
known  as  a  business  man.  In  the  circles  where  the  leading  merchants  and  im- 
porters of  our  New  England  metropolis  are  accustomed  to  meet  and  discuss  the 
laws  of  trade  and  canvass  the  prospects  of  the  future,  his  judgment  is  greatly 
respected,  and  the  intelligence  and  foresight  with  which  he  is  able  to  advise  are 
highly  regarded.  He  bears  an  unblemished  reputation  as  a  man  of  honor  and 
fairness,  in  all  ways  commanding  universal  respect  and  esteem, —  a  gentleman  in 
the  true  significance  of  the  term.  In  the  wide  range  of  personal  distinction, 
among  all  the  marks  of  honor  and  renown  which  the  world  aifords,  the  title  of  a 
true  gentleman  stands  first,  and  he  who  bears  it  worthily  need  envy  neither 
prince  nor  potentate. 

As  a  citizen,  Mr.  Cumner  has  taken  an  earnest  and  unvarying  interest  in 
public  aff'airs.  Politically,  his  associations  have  been  with  the  Democratic  party  ; 
but  his  views  have  been  conservative,  looking  to  the  real  purposes  of  the  gov- 
ernment rather  than  the  aims  and  desires  of  party  politicians.  While  residing  in 
Manchester  he  held  important  offices  in  the  municipal  government,  was  a  faithful 
public  servant,  working  zealously  to  promote  the  general  interests  and  the  com- 
mon good  of  his  constituents,  of  whom  he  deserved  well. 

Mr.  Cumner  became  a  member  of  the  celebrated  military  organization,  the 
Amoskeag  Veterans,  in  the  days  of  its  origin,  and  has  continued  to  do  active 
duty  through  the  entire  term  of  its  existence.  He  held  the  office  of  captain  in 
1870.  and  commander  of  the  battalion,  with  the  rank  of  major,  in  1879  and 
1880.  During  his  membership  he  has  served  in  countless  capacities  incident  to 
the  general  management  of  the  organization,  and  while  commander  did  very 
eflfective  service  in  promoting  harmon}"  and  unity  of  purpose,  and  increased  in  a 
great  degree  the  interest  and  efficiency  of  the  corps. 

Mr.  Cumner's  connection  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  has  been  a  very  promi- 
nent feature  of  his  life.  He  became  a  Mason  in  Lafayette  Lodge,  Manchester, 
May,  185G,  and  was  one  of  the  petitioners  and  charter  members  of  Washington 
Lodge  in  1857.  He  held  many  subordinate  offices,  and  was  the  Worshipful 
Master  in  1862  and  1863,  and  has  been  treasurer  nearly  all  the  time  since.  His 
keen  scrutiny  of  its  business  affairs  and  careful  management  of  its  accounts 
have  done  much  to  keep  his  lodge  in  sound  financial  condition.  In  1856  he 
received  the  capitular  degrees  in  Mt.  Horeb  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  and,  after 
serving  at  almost  every  post  in  that  body,  became  its  High  Priest  from  1862  to 
1864.  He  took  the  cryptic  degrees  in  Adoniram  Council,  in  May,  1857,  and 
soon  after  the  orders  of  knighthood  were  -c-onferred  upon  him  in  Trinity  Com- 
mandry,  Knights  Templar.  In  all  these  subordinate  bodies  he  sustained  an 
ardent  and  zealous  member.ship,  contributing  freely  to  their  support  and  aiding 
materially  in  their  prosperity.  In  1862  he  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  High 
Priesthood,  and  in  1863  received  the  degrees  of  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Rite 


NATHANIEL    WENTVVORTII    CUMNER.  301 

to  the  32cl,  inclusive,  in  Boston,  and  in  September,  1881,  was  elected  to  the  33d 
and  last  grade  in  Masonry .  In  the  Grand  Masonic  bodies  of  New  Hampshire 
he  has  been  equally  prominent,  and  his  earnest  labors  and  sincere  devotion  to 
their  interests  have  been  recognized  and  appreciated.  After  holding  several 
offices  in  the  M.  E.  Grand  Koyal  Arch  Chapter  of  New  Hampshire,  he  was 
elected  Grand  High  Priest  in  1867  and  18G8,  and  gave  eminent  satisfaction  by  his 
management  of  affairs.  In  the  Grand  Lodge  of  New  Hampshire  he  held  nearly 
all  the  subordinate  positions,  and  was  elected  ]Most  Worshipful  Grand  Master  in 
1872,  1873,  and  1874.  As  the  presiding  officer  in  these  grand  bodies,  whose 
duties  are  mostly  legislative,  he  commanded  the  respect  of  the  fraternity  for 
fairness  and  impartiality,  and  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  graceful  and  courteous 
bearing.  His  addresses  and  official  papers  were  regarded  as  sound  and  creditable 
documents  by  the  fraternity  in  other  jurisdictions. 

If  Mr.  Cumner  has  been  prosperous  and  successful  in  other  departments  of 
life,  he  has  been  remarkably  happy  and  fortunate  in  his  family  and  social  rela- 
tions. He  married  Miss  Harriet  Elizabeth  Wadley.  daughter  of  Moses  I).  Wad- 
ley,  of  Bradford,  N.  H.,  January  24,  1856.  They  have  two  sons,  —  Harry 
Wadley  Cumner,  born  July  18.  18(iO,  and  Arthur  Bartlett  Cumner.  born  July 
3(1,  1871.  Harry  Wadley  graduated  from  the  Manchester  high  school  in  1879, 
with  high  standing  in  his  class  and  the  reputation  of  a  faithful  and  efficient  stu- 
dent. He  entered  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  in  Boston,  in  1879, 
as  a  special  student,  remaining  two  years.  In  1881  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
life:  and  having  integrity  and  the  capacity  to  make  the  best  use  of  his  privileges 
and  attainments,  he  has  certainly  the  earnest  of  a  prosperous  aud  honorable  life. 
Arthur  Bartlett,  a  bright  and  beautiful  boy  of  uncommon  intelligence,  has  yet 
to  climb  the  pathway  of  youth  ;  but  if  aught  can  be  predicted  from  such  tender 
years  he  is  not  likely  to  disappoint  the  fond  hopes  of  parents  and  friends. 

In  the  common  judgment  of  mankind,  woman  receives  very  little  credit  for 
the  success  of  man  in  the  struggles  and  achievements  of  this  life.  The  intuitive 
judgment  and  unfaltering  support  with  which  the  faithful  and  devoted  wife  aids 
her  husband  are  unseen  influences,  the  force  and  importance  of  which  never  have 
been  and  probably  never  will  be  understood  or  appreciated  ;  and.  although  the 
remarkable  success  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  gained  may  be  attributed 
to  his  ability  and  integrity,  still  the  high  social  position  to  which  the  family  have 
attained,  and  the  important  and  very  creditable  purposes  which  they  have  accom- 
plished, arc  equally  due  to  the  clear  and  well  trained  judgment,  the  watchful  care 
and  oversight  of  domestic  affairs,  and  the  amiable  companionship  of  his  estimable 
and  accomplished  wife.  While  in  their  relative  spheres,  either  in  the  busy  marts 
of  trade  or  the  domestic  departments  of  life,  "on  change"'  or  in  the  drawing- 
room,  each  to  a  certain  extent  must  be  judged  independently,  in  all  the  economy 
of  life  her  individuality  and  influence  will  be  seen  to  have  done  their  full  share 
in  molding  the  fortunes  of  the  family. 

Anxiously  we  strive  to  look  behind  the  '-cloud  curtains""  that  veil  the  future 
and  hide  from  view  what  lies  in  the  untried  ways  beyond.  Vainly  through  the 
shadows  which  the  sorrows  of  real  life  cast  far  in  advance,  and  into  the  misty 
lands  "  whence  come  the  troops  of  good  and  evil  forces."  so  strangely  and  myste- 
riously mingled,  we  gaze  and  endeavor  to  discern  the  hastening  events  upon  which 
our  happiness  and  success  so  largely  depend.  But  if  we  may  predict  of  the  future 
by  the  past,  if  Ave  can  anticipate  what  is  to  come  by  what  has  been  accomplished, 
then  shall  the  members  of  this  family  be  blessed  with  the  enjoyment  of  their  full 
^hare  of  all  that  is  happiest  and  best. 


COL.  CIIANDLliR  !■.  POTTI'R. 


Col.  Cii.wdlek  K.\stm.\x  Putter  was  ii  native  of  Kast  Conconl,  X.  H., 
born  Marcli  7,  1807,  son  of  .Joseph  and  Anna  (Drake)  Potter.  Jle  <:ra(lnate(l 
at  Dartmoiitli  College  in  1831,  taught  high  schools  in  Concord  and  Portsmouth 
several  years,  read  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  practiced  in  Concord. 
In  1844  he  moved  to  Manchester,  where  he  owned  and  edited  the  Maiichesfer 
Democrat  until  the  fall  of  1848,  when  he  sold  the  ])aper.  From  1852  to  1856 
he  was  editor  of  the  Monthly  Visitoj-  and  Granite  Fanner.  In  June,  1848,  he 
was  a]>})ointed  justice  of  the  Manchester  police  court,  succeeding  Hon.  Samuel 
I).  Bell,  which  office  he  filled  seven  years,  with  honor  and  credit  to  himself.  He 
was  an  able  and  efficient  member  of  the  Historical  Society  in  New  Hanij)shire, 
and  other  societies,  and  author  of  a  very  elaborate  and  correct  history  of  Man- 
chester. His  ennobling  vicAVS  of  man  and  nature,  and  of  sound,  true  principles 
were  always  heard  with  profound  attention  and  delight.  He  had  copiousness  of 
ideas,  and  his  writings  were  always  tilled  with  the  thoughts  of  a  comprehensive 
mind,  instructing  all  who  read  what  he  wrote  with  a  ready  pen.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  the  study  of  the  Indian  language,  and  has  written  many  sketches  of 
Indian  character,  and  was  a  contributor  to  Schoolcraft's  Indian  work.  "Col. 
Potter  was  probably  the  best  informed  man  and  antifpiarian  in  the  state,  on  all 
topics  that  related  to  the  early  settlement  of  New  Hampshire."  He  was  genial 
and  social,  Avith  a  keen  relish  for  humor  and  anecdote,  friendly  with  all  classes. 
The  rich  and  the  poor  found  in  him  a  true  friend  in  time  of  need.  He  was  a 
devoted  friend  of  the  militia  organizations  of  the  state,  and  second  commander  of 
the  Amoskeag  Veterans,  a  company  that  adopted  the  uniform  of  the  continentals. 
They  visited  Washington  during  the  administration  of  President  Pierce,  com- 
manded by  Col.  Potter,  who  entertained  the  A'eterans  at  his  home,  the  McNeil 
(N.  H.)  mansion  and  birthplace  of  Franklin  Pierce,  in  1865.  A  grand  enter- 
tainment was  given  them  in  a  larg6  tent  upon  the  grounds. 

In  Dr.  Loring's  address  to  the  Veterans  he  remarks :  — 

"As  a  strong,  active,  and  useful  son  of  New  Hampshire,  he  will  long  be 
remembered,  and  when  all  to  whom  his  form  and  presence  were  so  familiar  shall 
have  passed  away,  —  his  associates,  his  f^imily,  kindred,  his  daily  companions  to 
whom  his  anecdote  and  good  sense  rendered  his  company  desirable,  —  the  fruits 
of  his  labor  as  a  careful  historian  and  annalist  will  remain,  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  the  literature  of  New  Hampshire,  a  tribute  from  one  who  loved  every 
incident  of  her  early  and  aboriginal  and  heroic  age.  To  his  friends  he  left  an 
honorable  reputation  ;  to  his  company,  a  record  which  will  not  be  forgotten  until 
the  history  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  blotted  out." 

Col.  Potter's  last  able  work,  The  Military  History  of  Ncav  Hampshire,  pub- 
lished in  1806,  consists  of  two  volumes,  from  the  settlement  in  1023  to  the  close 
of  the  war  of  1812,  with  valuable  biographical  sketches. 


COL.    CHANDLER    E.    POTTER.  303 

Judge  Potter  married,  November  1,  1832,  Clara  A.,  daughter  of  John 
Underwood,  of  Portsmouth,  by  whom  he  had  four  children.  She  died  March 
19,  1854,  and  November  11,  1850,  he  married  Frances  Maria,  daughter  of  Gen. 
John  McNeil,  of  Hillsborough.  After  this  marriage  he  resided  at  the  Grov. 
Pierce  homestead  in  Hillsborough  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Col.  Potter  loved  the  society  of  intelligent  and  worthy  people,  and  welcomed 
all  without  distinction.  His  domestic  relations  gave  a  great  charm  to  his  exist- 
ence. He  died  at  Flint,  Mich.,  whither  he  had  gone  with  his  wife  on  business, 
August  3,  1868.  After  the  funeral  ceremonies  were  performed  at  Manchester, 
the  Veterans  met  at  their  armory  and  passed  the  following  resolution :  — 

"  Whereas,  an  inscrutable  Providence  has  seen  fit  to  remove  from  our  midst 
our  loved  and  chosen  commander,  and  we  have  performed  the  last  sad  rites  of 
sepulture  over  his  remains;  therefore,  be  it 

"  Remlvpxl^  That  in  the  decease  of  their  colonel.  Chandler  E.  Potter,  the  Amos- 
keag  Veterans  have  sustain r^d  an  irreparable  loss,  —  that  their  foremost  man 
from  the  beginning,  who  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  in  sunshine 
and  in  storms,  unselfishly  sought  to  promote  their  highest  welfiire,  is  no  more,  — 
and  for  each  one  of  us  to  resolve  that  in  our  day  and  generation  we  will  endeavor 
to  follow  his  example  is  the  highest  tribute  we  can  pay  his  memory.  We  mourn 
not  alone.  Society  has  lost  an  ornament ;  the  stato  a  historian  whose  labors,  yet 
incompleted,  in  compiling  and  preserving  her  military  history,  will  long  outlive 
our  feeble  efforts." 


HON.  DANIEL  BARNARD. 


BY    M.    B.    GOODWIN. 


1.  John  Barnard  was  among  the  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts.  He 
came  to  this  country  in  l()/i4,  in  tlie  ship  Elizabeth,  from  Ipswich,  England,  and 
settled  in  Watertown. 

2.  John  Barnard,  son  of  the  pioneer,  John  Barnard,  had  two  sons,  Jonathan 
and  Samuel. 

'd.  Jonathan  liarnard,  son  of  John  Barnard,  was  a  resident  of  Amesbury, 
Mass.  Owing  to  the  manifold  duties  of  a  busy  professional  life,  Daniel  Barnard 
has  not  had  the  time  or  opportunity  to  trace  out  the  genealogy  of  his  family 
fully,  but  there  is  much  reason  for  believing  that  this  Jonathan  Barnard  was  his 
great-grandfather.  His  great-grandfather  was  Captain  Jonathan  Barnard,  inn- 
holder  in  Amesbury,  who  kept  •'  The  Lion's  Mouth  '"  in  provincial  days,  was  a  cap- 
tain in  the  colonial  militia,  and  was  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  town  in  which  he 
lived.  He  was  one  of  the  sixty  original  grantees,  in  1735,  of  the  township  of 
New  Amesbury,  or  "  Number  One,"'  which  was  afterwards  granted,  in  1767,  by 
the  Masonian  proprietors,  as  Warner.     His  name  heads  the  list  of  the  grantees. 

4.  Charles  Barnard,  son  of  Capt.  Jonathan  Barnard,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
patriot  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  settled  in  Warner,  on  the  northeast  slope  of 
Burnt  Hill. 

5.  Thomas  Barnard,  son  of  Charles  Barnard,  was  born  in  Warner  in  1782  ; 
married,  first,  Ruth  Eastman,  of  Hopkinton  ;  married,  second,  Phebe,  his  first 
wife's  sister.  In  the  fall  of  1826  he  removed,  with  his  young  family,  from 
Warner  to  Orange.  He  died  January  29,  1859  ;  his  second  wife  died  June 
bO,  1845. 

6.  Daniel  Barnard,  son  of  Thomas  and  Phebe  ( Eastman )  Barnard,  was  born 
in  Orange,  January  23,  1827.  When  his  father,  Thomas  Barnard,  went  there 
and  planted  his  home  on  his  lot  of  three  hundred  acres  on  the  highlands  divid- 
ing the  waters  which  flow  into  the  Pemigewasset  from  those  which  flow  into  the 
Connecticut,  the  whole  territory  was  still  covered  by  the  primeval  forest.  But 
rugged,  courageous  hearts  and  hands  in  due  time  converted  forest  into  field,  and 
while  a  troupe  of  seven  sons  and  a  daughter  was  springing  up  in  the  rugged 
mountain  home,  a  good  farm  was  opened,  which,  with  its  abundant  crops  of 
grass,  the  stocks  of  cattle  and  very  large  flocks  of  sheep,  allowed  no  place  for 
idleness,  summer  or  winter.  The  church  and  the  district  school  stood  together 
more  than  three  miles  ofl",  and  so  continued  till  the  subject  of  this  notice,  the 
fifth  child  of  the  family,  was  fourteen  years  old,  no  regular  school  being  estab- 
lished nearer  till  he  was  eighteen  years  old.  But  the  father  being  a  man  of 
sense  and  intelligence,  and  the  mother  an  iincommonly  bright,  capable  woman, 
they  not  only  made  the  utmost  exertion  to  give  their  children  the  full  benefit  of 
the  meager  chances  of  the  district  school,  but  also  systenuitically  supplemented 
these  opportunities  with  regular  study  and  teaching  in  the  long  winter  evenings 


HON.    DANIEL    BARNARD.  305 

at  home.  The  father,  a  good  mathematician,  managed  the  flock  in  arithmetic, 
and  the  mother  handled  them  in  other  branches.  From  the  age  of  seventeen, 
Daniel  Barnard  was  granted  the  privilege  of  attending  the  Canaan  Academy  every 
season  during  the  winter  months,  until  lie  was  twenty-one,  being  employed 
during  the  summer  on  his  father's  farm. 

When  he  arrived  at  man's  estate  he  fearlessly  took  his  stand  with  the  Free-soil 
Democrats,  and  was  four  times  elected  to  rejDresent  his  native  town  in  the  state 
legislature. 

During  this  time  he  was  intent  upon  securing  the  advantages  of  a  college 
education,  and  with  this  end  in  view  he  taught  school,  during  the  winter,  in  Orange 
Grrafton,  Groton,  Lyme,  Enfield,  and  Amherst,  and  pursued  his  preparatory 
studies  at  Canaan  and  Boscawen  academies,  and  under  the  tuition  of  Prof.  Wil- 
liam Russell  at  the  Normal  Institute  at  Heed's  Ferry. 

Mr.  Barnard's  legislative  experience  materially  changed  his  plans  in  life  ; 
and  he  decided  to  enter  at  once  upon  his  professional  studies.  He  was  well 
known  in  the  house  from  his  first  appearance  in  that  body  ;  not  merely 
because  so  youthful  in  appearance,  but  because,  also,  of  the  uncommon  capacity, 
the  sincerity  and  sagacity  with  which,  in  unassuming,  almost  diffident  ways,  he 
met  all  his  duties ;  and  in  the  latter  sessions  of  the  four  years'  service  he 
became  a  leader  of  the  Independent  party  in  the  house,  and  an  influential  mem- 
ber of  that  body.  At  home,  during  the  same  period,  he  was  sleepless  in  his  vigi- 
lance, contriving  by  sagacious  management  to  hold  the  little  band  of  Free-soil 
Democrats  in  a  solid  column,  and  annually  to  carry  the  town  till  he  left  it,  in  the 
autumn  of  1851. 

At  the  close  of  the  legislative  session  of  that  year,  with  fixed  professional 
aims,  he  went  to  Franklin,  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of 
Nesmith  &  Pike,  and  in  1854,  on  admission  to  the  bar,  became  at  once  the 
junior  partner  with  Mr.  Pike,  in  the  office  where  he  had  read  his  profession,  Mr. 
Nesmith  at  that  time  retiring  from  the  office  and  extensive  business  which  he 
had  so  honorably  founded  and  built  into  its  large  proportions.  In  18G3,  Mr. 
Barnard  withdrew  from  the  firm  and  established  himself  alone  in  his  profession 
in  the  same  village,  rapidly  rising  into  the  very  large,  wide,  and  lucrative  busi- 
ness which  for  more  than  eighteen  years  has  allowed  him  not  so  much  as  a  week, 
or  scarcely  a  day,  of  vacation  in  the  year.  During  this  period  he  has  had  as 
many  students  in  his  office  constantly  as  the  circumstances  of  his  office  would 
admit,  and  has  nearly  all  the  time  had  a  partner  in  a  temporary  way.  His  part- 
ner now  is  his  eldest  son,  William  M.  Barnard,  who  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  with  superior  rank,  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years  ;  studied  his 
profession  in  his  father's  office  and  at  the  Boston  Law  School ;  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  into  partnership  with  his  father  in  1879.  In  relation  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  office,  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  add  that  there  has  been  no  time  within  the 
last  fifteen  years  in  which  there  has  not  been  a  formidable  amount  of  business 
piled  up  awaiting  attention,  notwithstanding  the  most  sleepless  and  indefatigable 
industry  which  Mr.  Barnard  has  brought  to  his  duties.  For  the  last  ten  years 
he  has  not  only  regularly  attended  all  the  courts  in  the  counties  of  Merrimack, 
Belknap,  and  the  Plymouth  sessions  of  Grafton,  but  has  constantly  attended  the 
United  States  circuit  courts,  practicing  in  bankrupt,  patent,  and  revenue  cases. 

The  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Barnard  is  held  by  the  immediate  community  in 
which  he  lives  may  be  casually  mentioned.  Though  never  seeking  office,  he  has 
been  often  chosen  to  places  of  responsibility  by  his  townsmen.  In  1860  and 
1862  he  represented  the  town  of  Franklin  in  the  legislature;  and  in  all  political 
contests  in  the  town  in  which  he  has  been  candidate  for  the  suff"rages  of  his 
townsmen  he  has  always  run  much  ahead  of  the  party  ticket.  In  1865  and 
1866  he  was  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  presiding  over  that  body  in  the  latter- 


306  HON.    DANIEL    BARNARD. 

named  year;  in  1870  and  1871  lie  was  a  member  of  the  governor's  council;  and 
in  1872  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  national  convention  at  Philadelphia. 
fle  was  solicitor  of  l\Ierrinuick  county  from  1867  till  declining  re-appointment 
in  1872,  the  position  being  again  tendered  to  him  and  declined  in  1877.  He 
was  a  firm,  earnest  supporter  of  the  homestead-exemption  law  of  1850,  which 
was  opposed  by  most  of  the  profession  through  the  state,  and  introduced  the 
resolution  in  the  house  which  first  gave  the  members  a  daily  paper.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  senate  in  18()7,  he  took  a  profound  interest  in  tlie  amendment  of  the 
federal  constitution  prohil)iting  slavery,  making  an  able  and  effective  argument 
in  its  support  in  that  body. 

In  the  cause  of  education  he  has  always  been  a  foremost  friend  in  Franklin 
and  throughout  the  state.  His  own  early  struggles  have  doubtless  contributed 
to  make  him  j)eculiarly  a  friend  of  the  common  school,  and  his  experience  as  a 
teacher  in  his  early  years  gives  him  practical  wisdom  in  the  cause.  While  study- 
ing his  profession  in  Franklin,  he  was  from  year  t(j  year  employed  in  the  Teach- 
ers' Institutes,  which  did  a  large  work  in  awakening  higher  ideas  of  the  mission 
of  the  common  school  in  New  Hampshire  during  that  period,  and  in  that  busi- 
ness he  was  in  nearly  every  county  of  the  state.  In  18()7.  the  honorary  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  was  conferred  upon  Mr.  Barnard  by  Dartmouth  College. 

Mr.  Barnard  has  bjen  prominently  identified  with  all  the  leading  industries 
which  have  been  established  in  Franklin,  and  which  have  so  remarkably  built  up 
the  town  within  the  last  twenty  years ;  procured  the  charters  and  helped  organ- 
ize all  the  great  corporations;  has  been  a  continuous  trustee  of  the  Franklin 
Library  Association  since  its  establishment,  more  than  fifteen  years  since,  and  a 
trustee  of  the  Franklin  Savings  Bank  since  its  establishment,  in  1805;  legal 
counsel  of  the  Franklin  Falls  Company  from  its  organization,  in  1864,  and  the 
last  eight  years  its  local  agent ;  and  is  a  director  and  vice-president  of  the  Franklin 
National  Bank,  recently  organized  in  that  town. 

As  a  lawyer.  Mr.  Barnard  ranks  very  high  in  the  profession,  his  advice  being 
eagerly  sought  by  the  humblest  client  and  the  most  influential  corporations;  but 
no  person,  however  poor,  with  a  meritorious  cause,  was  ever  turned  away  from 
his  office  to  make  room  for  a  richer  or  more  powerful  client.  His  client's  cause 
becomes  his,  and  his  whole  energy  is  directed  to  winning  for  his  employer  what 
he  believes  he  should  have.  His  terse  and  logical  arguments  are  especially  pow- 
erful before  a  jury;  and  his  eloquent  voice  has  been  often  heard  in  legislative 
halls,  leading  and  guiding  the  law-making  assemblies,  and  in  political  meetings, 
sustaining  the  motives  and  policy  of  his  party. 

In  the  social,  humane,  and  religious  work  of  the  community,  he  has  always 
been  active  and  efficient,  generous  almost  to  a  fault  in  every  good  enterprise ;  and 
in  these  spheres  of  duty  he  has  ever  had  the  efficient  co-operation  of  a  cultivated, 
and,  it  is  not  too  much  to  add,  a  model  Christian  wife,  —  Amelia,  only  child  of 
Rev.  William  Morse,  a  Unitarian  clergyman  of  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  at  the  time 
of  the  marriage,  —  to  whom  he  was  married  November  8,  1854.  Mr.  Morse, 
now  deceased,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  clergymen  of  the  Unitarian  faith  in  this 
country,  was  many  years  pastor  of  the  Callow-Hill-street  church,  Philadelphia, 
and  an  able  and  excellent  minister.  His  wife  was  Sophronia,  daughter  of  Abner 
Kneeland,  of  Boston,  an  able  and  upright  man,  whose  trial  on  the  technical 
charge  of  blasphemy,  but  really  for  the  publication  of  heretical  religious  doctrines, 
was  a  most  noted  episode  in  New  England  forty  years  ago.  Mrs.  Morse  was  a 
noble  woman.  Mr.  Morse  and  his  wife  resided  during  the  last  years  of  their 
pleasant  lives  in  Franklin,  near  their  daughter,  who  watched  with  singular  ten- 
derness over  the  closing  years  of  the  parents  to  whom  she  is  indebted  for  supe- 
rior training  as  well  as  superior  ability.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  seven 
children,  six  of  whom,  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  are  living. 


ei,^tf?SS^ 


■^^' 


'/ .  c  ^  t  /  ^^^ 


Y^9 


/^  f  r  ^<^/-7V 


^^^^i^ 


WILLIAM  V.  RIDDLE. 


The  lives  men  live  and  the  character  of  communities  lived  in  are  retroactive. 
Written  or  unwritten,  the  good  and  ill  of  them  swell  the  tide  of  human  progress, 
which  ebhs  and  flows  by  force  of  individual  influences.  Time  and  place  are 
accidental  to  birth,  but  often  determine  conditions  that  shape  fortune.  In  New 
England,  in  the  last  century,  men  achieved  and  wore  the  iron  crown,  and  their 
descendants  inherited  traits  of  mental  and  moral  character  that  make  material 
for  biography. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  of  the  third  generation  of  his  family  in 
the  town  of  Bedford,  N.  H.,  the  place  of  his  nativity.  In  origin  the  family 
was  of  Anglo-Norman  extraction.  The  name  of  Kiddle  appears  in  the  English 
and  Scotch  genealogies,  and  is  traceable  back  into  the  ninth  century.  Gaen 
Iliddle,  of  Scotch  descent,  the  head  of  his  branch  of  the  family  in  this  country, 
came  over  and  settled  in  Bedford,  N.  H.,  about  the  year  1737,  and  was  one  of 
the  original  settlers  of  that  town.  William  P.  Riddle,  of  whom  is  the  pres- 
ent memoir,  was  the  grandson  of  Gaen  Riddle,  and  the  son  of  Isaac, — -a  man  of 
prominence  in  the  aftairs  and  events  of  his  time  and  locality.  William  P. 
inherited  in  a  marked  degree  his  father's  characteristics.  Born  on  the  6th  day 
of  April,  178!),  during  the  period  of  the  formation  of  our  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, he  became  early  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  nationality.  His  youth  was 
passed  at  the  district  scliool,  upon  the  farm,  and  about  his  father's  business,  in 
which  he  displayed  aptness  and  activity.  At  the  old  Atkinson  Academy,  in 
New  Hampshire,  he  ultimately  acquired  what  education  it  was  his  privilege  to 
obtain,  and  for  a  short  time  taught  school  in  his  native  town. 

In  ISII,  Mr.  Riddle  located  in  Piscataquog,  a  village  in  Bedford,  situated  on 
the  Merrimack  river,  and  now  a  part  of  the  city  of  Manchester.  There  he  took 
charge  of  his  father's  mercantile  aff'airs.  Business  soon  increased  in  importance, 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  partnership  of  Isaac  Riddle  &  Sons,  in  1817. 
This  firm  eventually  extended  its  business  operations  throughout  central  New 
England.  They  owned  and  carried  on  stores,  warehouses,  lumber-yards,  saw  and 
grain  mills  at  Bedford  and  Piscataquog,  and  also  operated  cotton  and  nail  fac- 
tories, and  lumber  and  grain  mills,  on  the  Souhegan  at  Merrimack.  At  the 
latter  place  they  erected  dwelling-houses,  stores,  and  a  hotel,  whence  it  came  to 
be  known  as  Riddle's  Village,  and  was  an  active  and  thriving  place. 

During  this  time  the  project  of  constructing  the  "  Union  Locks  and  Canals," 
on  the  Merrimack  river,  was  inaugurated,  —  an  enterprise  which  rendered  that 
river  navigable  for  boats  and  barges  to  the  capital  of  the  state  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  opened  up  water  communication  with  Boston.  With  this  achieve- 
ment Mr.  Riddle  became  identified,  manifesting  energy  and  foresight.  Takino' 
advantage  of  the  fiicilities  thus  afforded  for  inland  navigation,  the  firm  of  Isaac 
Riddle  &  Sons  established  a  warehouse  in  Boston,  together  with  a  line  of  canal- 
boats,  and  in  connection  with  their  other  extensive  business  entered  actively  into 
the  carrying-trade.     This  M^ater  transportation   was  continued  by   Mr.    Riddle 


308  WILLIAM    P.    RIDDLE. 

after  the  dissolution  of  liis  firm  in  18a(l.  and  until  the  openini!'  of  the  Nashua 
i^'  Concord  Jlailroad. 

At  the  decease  of  his  father,  the  old  firm  was  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Middle 
assumed  and  carried  on  the  business  in  his  own  name,  both  at  Merrimack  and 
Bedford.  He  supplied  the  region  round  about  with  merchandise,  and  furnished 
lumber  largely  for  the  cities  of  Nashua,  Lowell,  Newburyport,  Boston,  and 
Providence,  supplying  the  navy-yard  at  Charlestown  with  spars  and  ship-timber, 
Boston,  and  Lowell,  and  other  large  cities  with  lumber  for  public  buildings  and 
bridges,  and  the  railways  of  New  England  with  ties  and  contract  lumber,  and 
shipped  railroad  sleepers  to  the  West  Indies.  The  old  '•  yellow  store "  at 
Piscata(|uog  IJridge  was  the  scene  of  many  of  these  transactions.  It  was  a 
busy  mart.  Here  were  bought  and  bartered  domestic  products,  wood,  timber 
and"  lundx-r  from  all  the  outlying  country,  in  exchange  for  groceries  and  mer- 
chandise, which  in  turn  were  transported  down  the  Merrimack  to  the  markets  of 
Massachusetts. 

During  this  latter  period  of  his  business  activity,  Mr.  lliddle  also  dealt 
extensively  in  hops,  buying  them  throughout  New  Hampshire,  A'ermont,  and 
Canada,  and  shipping  and  marketing  them  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Phila- 
delphia^  and  in  some  instances  exporting  them.  In  184(i  he  was  appointed 
inspector-general  of  hops  for  New  Hamjjshire,  the  culture  of  which  having 
become  of  important  concern  to  the  farmers  of  the  state.  In  this  capacity  he 
was  favorably  known  and  respected  among  hop-growers  and  merchants  of  New 
England.  In  1848  the  Piscataijuog  steam-mills  were  erected  by  him.  and  suc- 
cessfully operated  for  several  years.  Thus  were  continued  and  carried  on  mer- 
cantile pursuits  and  business  enterprises  until  his  retirement,  about  the  year 
1860,  filling  up  a  busy  life  of  upwards  of  half  a  century. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Kiddle  evinced  a  taste  for  military  affairs.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-five  years  he  organized  a  company  known  as  the  Bedford  Grenadiers, 
and  was  chosen  its  first  captain.  Five  years  afterwards  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major  of  the  "  Old  Ninth  Regiment."  The  next  year  he  became 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  on  June  15.  1824,  was  promoted  to  the  colonelcy  of  the 
regiment,  and  was  in  command  for  seven  years.  The  '•  Old  Ninth  "  was  then 
composed  of  ten  full  infantry  companies,  two  rifle  companies,  one  artillery  com- 
pany, and  one  cavalry  company,  and  for  discipline  and  efficiency  ranked  first  in 
the  state.  In  June,"  1 881,  Col.  Riddle  was  promoted  brigadier-general;  and  on 
the  25th  of  June,  1833,  was  further  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general  of 
the  division,  which  military  office  he  held  till  his  resignation.  Thus  he  had 
filled  all  the  offices  of  military  rank  within  the  state. 

Mr.  Riddle  married,  in  1824,  Miss  Sarah  Ferguson,  daughter  of  Capt.  John 
Ferguson,  of  Dunbarton,  —  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  who  fought  at  Bunker's 
Hill.  Of  this  union  there  were  seven  children.  After  his  marriage  he  con- 
tinued to  reside  in  Piscatacjuog,  living  on  the  present  homestead  till  his  death. 
In  civil  life,  Gen.  Riddle  also  held  offices  of  trust.  He  was  representative 
at  the  legislature,  county  road  commissioner,  justice  of  the  peace  and  of  the 
quorum,  trustee  of  institutions,  on  committees  of  public  matters,  and  fretjuently 
moderator  at  the  town-meetings.  In  1820  he  was  chairman  of  a  committee 
chosen  to  build  Piscataquog  meeting-house,  a  matter  of  some  church  importance 
to  the  town  of  Bedford  ;  and  some  twenty  years  later  he  was  on  the  committee 
to  remodel  it  into  an  academy,  of  which  he  was  made  and  continued  a  trustee, 
and  in  which  he  exercised  a  lively  interest.  It  was  his  pleasure  to  promote 
public  education  in  every  way.  The  common  school,  the  academy,  and  the  col- 
lege received  his  patronage  and  fostering  consideration.  As  the  town's  com- 
mittee, he  superintended  the  early  construction  of  bridges  across  the  Piscataquog 


WILLIAM    r.    lUDDLE.  309 

and  Merrimack  rivers  ;  in  1825,  rebuilt  the  McGregor  bridge,  now  the  location 
of  the  new  iron  bridge  on  Bridge  street,  Manchester ;  and  at  a  later  period  was 
the  president  of  the  Granite  Bridge  Company,  which  erected  the  lattice  toll- 
bridge  at  Merrill's  Falls. 

In  the  "  Masonic  Fraternity,"  Mr.  Riddle  was  prominent,  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  the  order  in  1823.  The  following  year  he  helped  found  the  Lafayette 
Lodge  in  Piscataquog,  being  a  charter  member.  He  gave  liberally  to  the  sup- 
port of  this  lodge,  both  in  funds  and  effort,  supplying  it  with  a  hall  for  meet- 
ings and  work  for  twenty-five  years.  He  was  the  last  surviving  member  of  its 
early  projectors.  The  old  Lafayette  Lodge  was  among  the  very  few  in  the  state 
during  the  anti-Mason  troubles  that  held  its  regular  communications  unbroken. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Mt.  Horeb  Chapter,  and  of  Trinity  Commandry 
of  Knights  Templar. 

About  agriculture  he  found  time  to  exercise  his  taste.  He  owned  several 
farms,  and  cultivated  them  with  success,  experimenting  with  crops,  and  giving 
results  to  the  public.  He  was  a  patron  of  the  state  and  county  fairs,  and  sought 
in  many  ways  to  advance  and  encourage  the  best  interests  of  husbandry.  Hop- 
raising  was  a  specialty  with  him,  and  through  his  methods  and  example  the 
culture  of  hops  within  the  state  was  extended  and  improved. 

In  1854,  after  the  incorporation  of  the  city  of  Manchester,  at  a  time  when 
there  seemed  to  be  little  interest  manifested  in  military  affairs  in  the  state,  Gen. 
Riddle  undertook  aud  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans, 
now  so  well  known  and  respected.  In  its  origin  the  corps  was  a  military  associa- 
tion, composed  of  many  of  the  most  prominent  and  worthy  citizens  of  the  com- 
munity. From  such  an  association  a  battalion  was  formed,  and  Gen.  Riddle 
chosen  its  first  commander.  The  success  of  this  movement  gave  an  impetus  to 
the  military  spirit  of  the  day,  and  was  the  means  of  inaugurating  a  new  militia 
system  for  the  state.  The  Veterans,  as  is  well  known,  uniformed  in  continental 
style,  and  to-day  enjoy  a  wide  reputation  for  their  unique  and  ((uaint  appearance 
on  parade,  their  martial  bearing,  and  soldierly  mien,  and  for  the  character  of  the 
rank  and  file.  In  the  fall  of  1855,  upon  the  invitation  of  President  Pierce,  the 
Amoskeag  Veterans  visited  Washington  and  became  guests  at  the  White  House, 
freely  enjoying  its  hospitality,  and  receiving  ofiicial  honor.  While  there  they 
made  a  notable  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon.  On  its 
return,  the  battalion  attracted  much  public  notice.  At  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
and  New  York,  it  received  special  attention  and  entertainment.  During  the  late 
war  the  Veterans  showed  patriotism,  both  in  deed  and  sentiment,  and  otherwise 
promoted  the  national  cause. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Riddle  was  a  Whig,  during  the  existence  of  the  party  ;  and 
subsequently  became  a  Republican.  Though  not  a  politician,  he  took  an  earnest 
and  active  interest  in  the  public  affiiirsof  the  country.  Respecting  the  constitu- 
tional rights  of  all  sections,  he  most  faithfully  upheld  the  integrity  of  the  nation. 
With  him,  liberty  of  thought,  speech,  and  action  was  a  fundamental  and  inherent 
idea.  To  him  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  American  people  were  a  sacred 
heritage,  and  the  constitution  and  union  were  solemn  and  paramount  obligations, 
inseparable  and  indissoluble.  In  political  faith,  he  believed  the  nation  co-exiiited 
in  perpetuity,  and  that  the  people  were  the  source  of  all  sovereignty  ;  that 
parties  and  policies  were  expedients,  —  essential,  but  subordinate  to  principle  and 
the  fundamental  concerns  of  the  state.  In  the  early  discussions  prior  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  rebellion,  he  took  an  earnest  and  serious  interest.  He 
regarded  secession  as  treasonable  heresy,  and  odious.  During  the  war  he  was  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  government,  and  threw  all  his  influence  in  its  behalf. 
With  deep  faith  in  free  institutions,  and  the  power  of  the  nation,  he  "never 


310  WILLIAM    P.    RIDDLi:. 

despaired  of  the  Republic."  T^pon  the  close  of  hostilities,  peace  was  welcomed  by 
him  as  the  harbinger  of  a  redeemed  country. 

Though  nurtured  under  Scotch  Presbyterian  influences,  Mr.  Riddle  was  ulti- 
mately a  Unitarian  in  his  religious  faith.  lie  was  prominent  among  the  found- 
ers of  the  T'nitarian  society  at  Manchester,  and  exercised  much  personal  regard 
for  its  success.  Liberal  in  his  views,  he  was  always  actuated  by  jirinciple,  and 
aimed  at  consistency  in  Christianity.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  to  him  an 
abiding  force.  Dogma  was  subordinated  to  faith  ;  and  faith  enlightened  by  rea- 
son. A  patient  listener  to  religious  teaching,  he  molded  his  own  opinions.  In 
his  last  days  he  was  wont  to  say,  that,  upon  a  retrospection  of  his  life,  he  "  did 
not  wish  to  change  anything."  Simplicity  of  character,  charity,  and  hospitality 
were  marked  traits  in  life.  Energy,  efficiency,  and  integrity  characterized  his 
whole  career.  In  private  life  he  was  much  respected,  and  fully  sustained  the 
confidence  of  his  fellow-men.  In  public  life  he  was  identified  with  every  worthy 
achievement  of  his  time.  Few  men  of  his  generati(tn  and  nativity  have  lived 
more  active  lives,  and  few  will  leave  for  a  memorial  a  wider  record  of  usefulness 
and  enterprise. 

In  the  full  ])Osst'ssion  of  his  faculties,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-six  years,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  passed  (piietly  away,  on  the  IHth  day  of  May,  1875.  Tlie 
church  he  helped  to  build  and  to  sustain  was  the  scene  of  his  obsecjuies.  In  the 
cemetery  at  Bedford,  by  the  place  of  his  birth,  within  the  old  family  tomb,  he 
was  interred,  amid  the  kindly  offices  of  friends,  and  the  associations  with  which 
he  had  so  long  been  identified. 

Such  is  the  brief  portrayal  of  a  life  and  character,  which  in  some  degree  was 
the  logical  outcome  of  the  rugged  circumstances  that  beset  the  early  settlements 
of  New  Hampshire. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in 
New  England  equally  wrought  out  the  characteristics  of  the  people.  Bedford, 
Londonderry,  Antrim,  were  primarily  a  }tart  of  the  wilds,  and  the  •'  rock- 
ribbed  '  hills,  that  were  subdued  and  made  habitable  by  the  indomitable  energy 
and  frugal  industry  of  those  early  pioneers.  Their  descendants,  partaking 
somewhat  of  their  own  robust  virtues,  have  in  turn  impressed  the  higher  culture 
and  the  later  institutions  of  the  country.  In  those  old  towns  may  yet  be  traced 
the  lineaments  of  the  ancestry  which  so  eminently  struggled  for  "  conscience' 
sake."  Perhaps  to  no  influence  more  than  that  of  the  New  England  mothers' 
is  attributable  the  steady,  underlying  moral  force  which  pervaded  that  elder  civili- 
zation. 

Well  may  it  be  said,  that  ••  New  Hampshire  was  a  good  state  to  emigrate 
from," — for  those  communities  which  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  the  recip- 
ients of  such  an  emiuration. 


JOHN  B.  CLARKE. 


BY    JOHN    W.    MOORE. 


A.MONCi  tlie  various  pursuits  of  the  American  people  there  can  be  no  one 
which  ranks  higher  in  a  literary  point  of  view  than  journalism.  Once  the  orator, 
the  teacher,  the  learned  adviser,  and  the  judge  had  the  greater  influence  among 
the  people  ;  but  now  the  newspaper,  as  a  power  in  civilization  and  culture,  exceeds 
all  other  influences,  for  journalism  has  become,  in  this  country,  a  most  potent 
agency  for  good,  and  editors  now,  far  more  than  statesmen,  teachers,  or  eccle- 
siastics, are  the  guides  of  current  opinion.  It  was  at  one  time  a  common  saying 
in  England,  that  "  America  is  too  much  governed  by  newspapers."  Thomas 
Jeiferson,  hearing  this  assertion,  answered,  "  I  would  rather  live  in  a  country 
with  newspapers  and  withaut  a  government,  than  in  a  country  with  a  govern- 
ment but  without  newspapers.  The  well  managed  newspaper  of  to-day  is  not 
only  a  recorder  of  events,  but  it  occupies  itself  with  all  the  thoughts  and  doings 
of  men,  the  discoveries  of  science,  the  treasures  of  literature,  the  progress  of 
art,  the  acts  of  heroes,  and  the  sayings  and  doings  of  Christendom.  Sustained 
by  the  people,  and  laboring  for  them,  it  has  the  power  to  make  and  unmake 
presidents,  control  parties,  build  up  free  institutions,  and  regulate  the  minutest 
details  of  daily  life  ;  it  becomes  in  one  sense  school-master,  preacher,  lawgiver, 
judge,  jury,  and  policeman,  in  one  grand  combination.  Among  the  influential 
newspaper-men  of  this  country  who  are  now,  and  who  for  thirty  years  past  have 
been,  busy  in  publishing  journals,  speaking  for  truth,  honesty,  liberty,  reli- 
gion, and  good  government,  is  found  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  John  Badger 
Clarke,  the  well  known,  genial,  liberal,  enterprising,  able,  and  very  successful 
editor  and  publisher  of  the  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  Daily  Mirror  and  Amer- 
ican^ and  the   WeeMy  Mirror  and  Farnier. 

John  Badger  Clarke  was  born  at  Atkinson,  January  BO,  1820,  and  was  the 
junior  of  six  children  —  five  sons  and  one  daughter  —  of  Greenleaf  and  Julia 
(Cogswell)  Clarke.  Atkinson  was  a  good  town  to  be  born  in,  and  an  excellent 
place  in  which  to  gain  religious,  moral,  and  educational  instruction.  The  direct  an- 
cestors of  the  present  Clarke  family  were  from  Atkinson  ;  and  from  that  excellent 
farming  town  the  children  of  Greenleaf  Clarke  went  forth  on  their  way  to  col- 
lege and  to  places  of  responsibilty,  and  to  high  callings  in  life,  —  the  ancestors 
being  known  as  intelligent,  honored,  enterprising,  patriotic  people,  conscientiously 
religious,  after  the  Puritan  faith. 

Julia  Cogswell,  the  mother  of  Mr.  Clarke,  was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  William 
and  Judith  (Badger)  Cogswell,  and  sister  of  Rev.  William  Cogswell,  Hon. 
Thomas  Cogswell,  Hon.  Francis  Cogswell,  and  Hon.  George  Cogswell,  biographi- 
cal sketches  of  whom  appear  in  this  book.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  intel- 
lectual powers,  a  fine  scholar,  and  was  preceptress  of  Atkinson  Academy  at  the 
time  when  John  Vose,  author  of  a  treatise  on  astronomy,  was  principal. 


312  JOHN    B.    CLARKE. 

The  Badger  family,  connected  with  the  Clarkes  and  Cogswells,  are  descend- 
ants of  Giles  Badger,  who  settled  at  Newbury,  Mass.,  in  1G43.  Gen.  Joseph 
Badger,  born  at  Haverhill,  Mass.,  January  1 1,  1722,  and  who  died  April  4,  1808, 
in  the  eighty-sec-ond  yi-ar  of  his  age,  was  active  in  the  Revolution,  a  member  of  the 
provincial  congress,  and  of  the  convention  which  adopted  the  constitution.  After 
removing  to  Gilmanton.  N.  H.,  he  held  many  town  offices,  was  made  a  brigadier- 
general,  was  a  member  of  the  state  council,  and  was  a  .stanch  supporter  of  the 
institutions  of  learning  and  religion.  Hon.  William  Badger,  born  in  Gilmanton, 
January  18,  1771',  was  a  representative,  senator,  president  of  the  senate,  and 
governor  of  the  state  in  1884  and  1885.  He  was  also  an  elector  of  president 
and  vice-president  of  the  United  States  in  1824,  188(1,  and  1844;  was  an  asso- 
ciate justice  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  from  1816  to  1821,  and  for  ten  years 
high-sherift"  of  the  county.  Hon.  Joseph  Badger,  Jr.,  son  of  the  general,  was 
born  in  Bradford.  JMass.,  October  28,  1746  ;  was  distingui.shed  as  a  military  officer 
for  tliirty  years,  passing  from  captain  to  brigadier-general.  He  served  in  the 
Ilevolutionary  war.  and  was  i)resent  at  the  capture  of  Burgoyne.  He  died  at 
Gilmanton,  January  15,  180!>,  aged  sixty-two.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Kev. 
William  Parsons,  and  their  marriage  was  the  first  one  recorded  in  Gilmanton. 

Of  jMr.  Clarke's  four  brothers,  a  sketch  of  the  eldest,  the  Hon.  William 
Cogswell  Clarke,  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  book.  Dr.  Francis  Clarke  was  a  very 
successful  physician,  who  resided  during  his  professional  life  at  Andover,  Mass., 
where  he  died  July  10,  1852.  Hon.  Greenleaf  Clarke  was  a  teacher  of  the 
high  school  at  Lynn  until  obliged  to  leave  becau.se  the  sea  air  disagreed  with 
him,  when  he  returned  to  the  old  homestead  in  Atkinson,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  was  a  member  of  Gov.  Hubbard's  staff,  several  years  a  representa- 
tive to  the  legislature,  and,  in  187!K  the  senator  from  the  Bockingham  district, 
and  is  now  New  Hampshire's  commissioner  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad,  an 
office  which  he  held  in  earlier  days.  Dr.  Mo.ses  Clarke  graduated  from  the 
Medical  College,  Hanover,  and  received  his  degree  in  1842.  He  was  eminent  as 
a  physician  and  surgeon;  settled  at  Ea.st  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1845,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  medical  societies  of  that  state  in  1854,  and  a  representative  to 
the  American  Medical  Association.  He  was  city  physician  for  many  years,  school 
committee,  and  one  of  the  standing  committee  for  the  Congregational  society. 
He  died  at  Cambridge,  March  27,  1864.  The  sister  of  these  gentlemen,  Sarah 
Clarke,  married  Col.  Samuel  Carleton  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  and  has  since  resided 
in  that  town.  It  is  seldom  that  a  whole  family  of  six  children  have  so  credit- 
ably been  advanced  to  distinction. 

The  marriage  of  John  B.  Clarke  with  Susan  Greeley  ^Nloulton,  of  Gilmanton, 
a  descendant  of  John  Moulton,  who  came  to  Hampton  in  1688,  more  firmly  united 
the  mentioned  old  families,  adding  the  Thurstons,  Gilmans,  Lampreys,  Towles, 
Beans,  Philbricks,  and  others,  as  did  the  marriage  of  William  C.  C!arke  with  a 
daughter  of  Stephen  L.  Greeley  unite  the  Nortons  of  Newbury]  ort,  and  others ; 
while  Moses  Clarke,  by  marrying  a  direct  descendant  of  John  Dwight,  who  came 
from  England  in  1634,  and  settled  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  1686,  became  connected 
with  a  family  which  furni.shed  a  commandant  at  Fort  Dummer,  during  the  Indian 
war,  and  whose  youngest  son,  Timothy  C.  Dwight,  born  at  the  fort,  was  the 
first  white  child  born  in  Vermont ;  thus  through  the  Dwights,  connecting  the 
Woolseys,  Edwardses,  Hookers,  and  other  Massachusetts  and  Connec-ticut  fami- 
lies known  in  the  history  of  education  and  the  growth  of  Yale  College  with  the 
Clarkes,  Cogswells,  Badgers,  and  Gilmans  of  New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  Clarke  passed  the  years  of  boyhood  upon  the  farm  of  his  father, 
breathing  the  pure  air,  and  enjoying  the  healthy  exercise  of  farm  labor.  Here 
was  laid  the  foundation  of  that  robust  con.stitution  which  was  calculated  to  build 


JOHX    B.    CLARKE.  813 

up  the  excellent  physical  man  we  see  in  him.  Studying  at  Atkinson  Academy, 
he  was  prepared  to  enter  Dartmouth  College  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  from 
which  he  graduated  with  high  honors  in  the  class  of  1843,  being  only  outranked 
in  scholarship  by  the  late  Prof.  J.  N.  Putnam. 

After  leaving  college,  Mr.  Clarke  was  for  three  years  principal  of  the 
academy  at  (lilford  (now  Laconia),  exhibiting  an  aptness  for  teaching  rarely  pos- 
sessed. While  thus  engaged,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Stephen  C.  Lyford,  Esq.,  and  continued  his  studies  in  Manchester  with  his 
brother,  William  C.  Clarke,  until  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Hillsborough  county 
in  1848.  February  2,  1849,  he  started  for  California,  via  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  where  he  was  detained  eleven  weeks,  and  bought  for  the  Manchester 
party  of  forty-three  with  him,  in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  Maine  with 
twenty  men,  the  brig  Copiapo,  in  which  they  left  the  isthmus  for  California  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  passengers,  Mr.  Clarke  being  supercargo.  He  remained 
in  California  a  little  more  than  a  year,  practicing  law  and  working  in  the  mines.  He 
then  spent  about  four  months  in  Central    America,  returning  home  in  February, 

1851.  He  w^ent  to  Salem,  ]Mass. ,  with  the  intention  of  establishing  a  law  office  there, 
but  returned  to  Manchester  and  opened  an  office,  applying  himself  to  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  with  success,  until  February,  1852,  when,  at  the  request  of 
Mr.  Joseph  C.  Emerson,  he  took  charge  of  the  editorial  department  of  the 
Daily  Ifirror.  Mr.  Emerson  becoming  financially  embarrassed,  the  property  was 
sold  at  auction  on  the  20th  of  October,  1852,  Mr.  Clarke  being  the  purchaser 
of  the  Daily  and  Weekly  Mirror^  and  of  the  job-printing  establishment  con- 
nected therewith,  of  which  he  has  ever  sinc*e  been  the  sole  owner  and  manager. 
Subsequently  he  purchased  the  Daily  and  WeeMy  American  (in  which  the 
Weeldy  Democrat  had  been  previously  merged),  and  the  Neiv  Hampshire  Jour- 
nal of  Agriculture.  These  were  all  combined  with  the  Mirror.^  and  the  name  of 
the  daily  changed  to  Mirror  and  American,  and  the  weekly  from  Dollar  Weekly 
Mirror  to  Mirror  and  Farmer.  Since  these  additions  to  the  Mirror,  Mr.  Clarke 
has  found  it  needful  to  enlarge  both  the  daily  and  weekly  papers  twice. 

Though  Mr.    Clarke   commenced   his  journalistic  career  at   Manchester,  in 

1852,  without  training  and  without  capital,  he  had  what  at  that  time  proved 
most  valuable  to  him,  the  capacity  to  see  quickly  and  to  express  correctly  the 
tendencies  of  opinion  ;  and  consequently  his  paper  seemed  to  echo  the  voice  of 
the  people  without  any  appearance  of  attempting  to  create  it.  From  the  day  he 
came  to  Manchester  as  a  citizen  of  the  growing  city  (or  town  it  then  was),  he 
has  labored  for  the  welfare  of  the  place  and  the  prosperity  of  its  people.  An 
examination  of  the  records  and  the  history  of  Manchester  shows  us  that  he  was 
one  of  the  most  active  to  recommend  and  push  forward  the  manufacturing,  mer- 
cantile, and  mechanical  interests  of  the  corporations  and  people,  as  well  as  to  aid 
in  the  perfection  of  all  the  educational,  charitable,  and  reformatory  institutions 
of  the  city,  county,  and  state.  He  in  the  outset  aspired  to  make  the  Mirror  one 
of  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country,  cost  what  it  might ;  and  his  adroit- 
ness, energy,  persistency,  and  straightforward  devotion  to  that  idea  has  enabled 
him  to  realize  his  aspirations.  When  Mr.  Clarke  took  possession  of  the  Mirror, 
the  weekly  paper  had  but  a  few  hundred  subscribers,  while  it  now  has  a  larger 
circulation  than  any  other  paper  of  its  class  published  in  New  England  out 
of  Boston.  Doubtless  much  of  his  success  is  due  to  his  great  knowledge  of  men, 
as  this  enables  him  to  select  the  best  suited  to  carry  out  his  purposes,  whether  as 
assistants  in  the  various  departments  of  his  business,  or  to  attend  to  d(?tails  in 
any  city,  state,  or  national  measures  in  which  he  takes  an  interest.  He  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  brave,  earnest,  and  sound  mind,  and  never  wastes  his  energies  or 
time  upon  aspirations  which  may  be  barren  of  results.     His  work  is  steady,  like 


.■)I4  JOHN    B.    CLARKE. 

!i  <iOod  fire,  throwing  out  light  and  heat  constantly  and  continually.  Previous 
to  the  war  the  .W/Toy  had  been  non-partisan  iiolitically;  but  IMr.  Clarke  decided 
that  then;  sliould  be  no  neutrals  in  time  of  war,  and  his  paper  came  out  boldly 
on  the  side  of  the  administration,  and  has  ever  since  advocated  the  principles  of 
the  Kepublican  party. 

In  connection  with  his  daily  and  weekly  newspapers,  Mr.  Clarke  luis  built  up 
a  very  extxuisive  book  and  job  printing  business,  and  to  this  has  added  a  book- 
binding establishment.  He  has  pultlished  many  valuable  works  of  his  own  and 
others;  among  his  own  publications  will  be  found  'The  Ijondonderry  Celebra- 
tion," "Sanborn's  Ili.story  of  New  Hampshire,"  '•  Clarke's  Manchester  Almanac 
and  Directory,"'  "Clarke's  History  of  Manchester,"  and  several  smaller  works. 

Readers  of  the  Minor  know  that  ^Ir.  Clarke  is  accustomed  to  talking  and 
writing  with  great  |)Ositiveness.  He  generally  I'orms  his  opinions  quickly,  and 
acts  upon  them  with  directness.  He  will  decide  ixpon  a  project,  map  out  a  plan 
for  its  execution,  select  the  men  to  carry  out  its  details,  and  dispose  of  the  mat- 
ter, while  other  men  would  be  halting  and  trying  to  determine  whether  it  was 
feasible.  He  never  does  anything  lukewarmly ;  wliatever  cause  he  espouses  he 
enters  into  heartily,  bending  all  his  efforts  to  bring  about  success  and  make 
certain  the  desired  end.  H'  Mr.  Clarke  would  do  his  friend  a  favor,  he  devotes 
himself  to  that  purpose  with  as  much  zeal  as  if  its  attainment  were  the  chief 
object  of  his  life.  He  never  wears  two  faces ;  and  whether  your  friend  or 
oi)ponent  you  will  know  his  position  from  the  start. 

Mr.  Clarke  has  always  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  office,  because  he  believed 
that  office-holding  wt)uUl  interfere  with  his  influence  as  a  public  journalist,  but 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Baltimore  convention  that  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln 
for  the  second  time  to  the  presidency,  and  was  one  of  the  national  committee  of 
seven  (including  ex-Governor  Claflin,  of  Massachusetts,  ex-Governor  Marcus  L. 
Ward,  of  Xew  Jersey,  and  Hon.  Henry  T.  Raymond,  of  the  Ae<«  York  Times), 
who  managed  that  campaign.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture, been  a  trustee  of  tllp  Merrimack  River  Savings  Bank  since  its  organiza- 
tion, in  1858;  a  master  for  three  years  of  the  Amoskeag  Grange  No.  3  ;  for  two 
years  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans,  and  was  twice  elected  com- 
mander, but  declined  that  honor.  Six  times  he  has  been  elected  state  printer ;  in 
18G7,  1868,  1869,  1877,  1878,  and  in  1871*  for  two  years. 

Mr.  Clarke  has  always  manifested  a  great  interest  in  the  subject  of  elocution, 
probably  having  learned  how  faulty  many  students  were  as  orators  diiring  his 
senior  year  in  college,  when  he  was  president  of  the  Social  Friends  Society,  and 
in  1863,  after  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Tri  Kappa  Society.  For  two  years 
he  gave  to  the  Manchester  high  school  forty  dollars  a  year  for  prizes  in  public 
speaking  and  reading.  He  then  oflFered  (in  1874)  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  for 
five  years  to  Dartmouth  College  for  the  same  object.  In  October,  1879,  Mr. 
Clarke  proposed  to  give  forty  dollars  a  year  for  five  years  for  superiority  in  elocu- 
tion in  the  high  and  grammar  schools  of  Manchester,  to  be  divided  into  four ' 
prizes  of  $16.  812,  §8,  $4,  the  awards  to  be  made  at  a  public  exhibition  in  the 
month  of  January  each  year,  the  proceeds  from  sale  of  tickets  to  which  should 
be  invested,  and  the  income  from  the  investment  applied  for  prizes  for  a  similar 
object  perpetually.  The  proposition  was  accepted  by  the  school  board,  and  the 
first  contest  for  the  prizes  was  made  in  Smyth's  Hall  in  January,  1880,  the 
net  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  tickets  being  $245.00.  The  succeeding  January 
$287.16  was  realized,  and  in  January,  1882,  $362.15,  or  a  total  of  $894.31 
in  three  years.  In  February,  1882,  Mr.  Clarke  ofl'ered  to  add  to  his  original  forty 
dollars  twenty  dollars  a  year  for  the  next  two  years,  with  the  suggestion  that  the 
I'orly  dollars  be  divided  into  prizes  of  $13,  $11,  $9.  and  $7  respectively,  for  the 


JOHN    B.    CLARKE.  315 

best  four  of  all  the  sixteen  contestants,  on  the  score  of  merit,  and  the  remaining 
twenty  dollars  awarded  in  equal  prizes  to  the  contestants  adjudged  the  best 
in  each  of  the  schools  represented,  excluding  all  who  should  have  received 
either  of  the  four  prizes  first  named.  The  result  of  this  generous  offer  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Clarke  has  been  a  great  interest  and  improvement  in  reading  and 
speaking  in  the  public  schools  of  Manchester,  and  it  is  probable  that  there  will 
be  a  permanent  fund  of  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars  accruing  from  the 
exhibitions  at  the  end  of  the  five  years,  insuring  a  perpetual  income  for  the 
Clarke  prizes. 

Mr.  Clarke  has  always  been  interested  in  farming,  and,  believing  that  "blood 
will  tell,"  has  done  much  with  voice  and  pen  to  bring  about  an  improvement  in 
the  breeds  of  horses  and  other  stock  in  the  state.  His  admiration  for  good 
horses  (of  which  he  is  never  without  several  in  his  stable),  and  his  fondness  for 
hunting,  are  so  much  a  part  of  his  life  that  any  sketch  of  him  without  allusion 
to  them  would  be  incomplete.  As  a  coon  hunter  he  has  had  no  rival  in  the 
state.  He  has  served  as  president  of  the  New  Hampshire  Uame  and  Fish 
League  from  the  first,  and  was  the  prime  mover  in  its  organization. 

AVithin  a  few  past  years  Mr.  Clarke  has  learned  by  experience  that  there  is  a 
limit  to  the  amount  of  care  and  business  the  strongest  man  can  undertake, 
especially  when  everything  is  done  with  the  intensity  characteristic  of  his  nature. 
In  1872,  being  obliged  by  the  advice  of  physicians  to  abstain  from  all  business 
for  several  months,  he  visited  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany,  to  regain  the 
health  too  close  attention  to  business  had  temporarily  destroyed.  He  has  since 
applied  the  wisdom  thus  dearly  bought  by  limiting  the  time  to  be  devoted  to 
business,  rarely  allowing  himself  to  overstep  the  bounds. 

Generous  to  a  fault,  Mr.  Clarke  has  contributed  liberally  to  all  measures  cal- 
culated to  advance  the  interests  of  his  town  and  city,  and  hardly  a  public  work 
in  Manchester  now  exists  that  does  not  owe  something  to  his  influence  or  pecu- 
niary aid.  He  has  always  adhered  to  the  Christian  faith  in  which  he  was  reared, 
and  has  been  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Franklin-street  Congregational  church  of 
the  city,  a  constant  attendant  upon  its  worship,  and  has  been  elected  to  various 
ofiices  in  that  society. 

Mr.  Clarke  married,  July  29,  1852,  Susan  Greeley  Moulton,  of  Gilmanton. 
They  have  two  sons,  —  Arthur  Eastman,  born  May  13,  185-4,  and  William 
Cogswell,  born  March  17,  1856.  Both  are  graduates  of  the  Scientific  Depart- 
ment of  Dartmouth  College,  and  both  are  now  employed  on  the  Mirror. 


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